Sarah Ferguson recalled a sweet moment with Queen Elizabeth II’s corgis during a recent walk amid the duchess’ breast cancer recovery.
“I took all the seven doggies yesterday to where the queen would have walked them,” the Duchess of York, 63, said on the Wednesday, July 12, episode of her “Tea Talks With the Duchess and Sarah” podcast. “I was chatting to them saying, ‘Now where do we go?’ And they were showing me the way.”
After undergoing single mastectomy surgery, Ferguson wasn’t “as mobile” as she was in the past. The pups — who were the late queen’s beloved pets — were itching to go on a walk and were used to being taken on the walks constantly by others. So once her doctor had cleared her for light activity, she took the dogs out on the sentimental stroll.
“There was a little woodland walk that was made especially for the queen and [it was] just so special,” she recalled. “It was actually very wonderful to have a moment to really remember [her] because this time last year the queen would have been going to Balmoral [Castle] and we would have walked exactly where we walked yesterday together. And then the queen would have said, ‘See you up in Scotland.’”
Ferguson noted that she found the outside adventure “moving.” Following the walk, she and her ex-husband Prince Andrew — whom she cohabitates with at the Royal Lodge in Windsor — sat down in the garden to reflect on the loss of his mother. Elizabeth — who was also the mother of King Charles III, Princess Anne and Prince Edward — died in September 2022 at age 96.
Sarah Ferguson Maria Laura Antonelli/Shutterstock
“We sat quietly under some really beautiful trees and I asked him if he was alright without his mom and dad,” she said. “He said, ‘It’s lonely’ and he thinks about [them] a lot. People process grief in their own way.”
Nine months after the loss of her mother-in-law, Ferguson went through her own scary health battle. She learned about her breast cancer diagnosis after a routine mammogram screening.
Queen Elizabeth II walking one of her corgis. David Hartley/Shutterstock
“She was advised she needed to undergo surgery, which has taken place successfully,” a representative for the duchess told Us Weekly in June. “The Duchess is receiving the best medical care and her doctors have told her that the prognosis is good. She is now recuperating with her family. The Duchess wants to express her immense gratitude to all the medical staff who have supported her in recent days.”
After news broke of her diagnosis, Sarah encouraged everyone to get a screening on a June episode of her podcast.
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“It’s very important that I speak about it,” she explained. “I am telling people out there because I want every single person that is listening to this podcast to go get checked. Go get screened and go do it.”
