Sarah Ferguson’s Unconventional Wedding Dress Request for Prince Andrew

Prince Andrew’s affection for teddy bears was recently revisited in the Netflix film Scoop, but this fascination dates back to before his marriage to Sarah, Duchess of York.

The couple would have celebrated their 38th anniversary on July 23 had they not divorced in 1996. The late Queen Elizabeth II’s son married Sarah in 1986, and his bride tried to incorporate his unusual passion on their wedding day.

Designer Lindka Cierach reportedly advised Sarah against having decorative teddy bears and helicopters embroidered into her wedding dress. Instead, the gown featured hearts to symbolize love, anchors and waves to honor Prince Andrew’s Royal Navy career, and bumblebees and thistles from the Ferguson family coat of arms. The puff-sleeve dress also had a 17-foot train.

The couple’s initials, ‘A’ and ‘S’, were sewn into the gown. Sarah, who now lives with her ex-husband at Royal Lodge, mentioned she liked the corset silhouette because it fit her “reduced figure” after she lost 26 pounds.

Describing her gown as “an exquisite creation I’d lost twenty-six pounds to fit into,” Sarah praised Lindka for creating the most flattering gown she could imagine. In her 1997 autobiography My Story she wrote, “It was amazingly boned, like a corset. We’d chosen Duchess satin because it is the creamiest material in the world. It never creases. It is smooth as glass and hangs beautifully, without a single bulge; it made my reduced figure look even better.”

After their Westminster Abbey ceremony on July 23, 1986, the newlyweds celebrated at Claridges Hotel before heading to the Azores for their honeymoon.

As they headed to Heathrow Airport in a horse-drawn carriage, fans might have noticed a giant teddy bear accompanying the newlyweds. Sarah had changed into a blue floral suit, comprising a peplum jacket and a pleated ankle-length skirt.

The Duke’s fascination with teddy bears continued privately. In 2010, Prince Andrew admitted, “I’ve always collected teddy bears. Wherever I went in the navy, I would buy a teddy bear, so I’ve got a collection from all over the world.”

In 2022, former Buckingham Palace maid Charlotte Briggs disclosed to The Sun that arranging Andrew’s bears in size order was part of her daily duties in the 1990s. “As soon as I got the job, I was told about the teddies and it was drilled into me how he wanted them,” she explained.

“I even had a day’s training,” she said. “After all, he was a grown man who had served in the Falklands. Each had to be carefully positioned. They were old-fashioned teddy bears – the Steiff ones – and nearly all of them had sailor suits on and hats. It took me half an hour to arrange them.”

Continuing, she elaborated, “Then at bedtime, I had to take all the teddies off and arrange them around the room. They each had a set place. We had to stack the smaller ones in an unused fireplace, again in size order, to make them look pretty. His two favorite bears sat on two thrones either side of the bed. The others would sit at the foot of the bed on the floor.”

This peculiar habit underscores some of the unique facets of Prince Andrew’s character, which Sarah, Duchess of York, embraced during their marriage. These personal anecdotes add layers to the public persona of the Duke, making them compelling subjects for dramatizations like Scoop.

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Source: Shutterstock, Getty, PA Images, The Sun, Netflix