On August 9, 1992, the Duchess of York flew on a private jet to the French Riviera with her “financial adviser” John Bryan and her young daughters, Princess Beatrice and Eugenie.
Sarah Ferguson, who recently separated from Prince Andrew, was due to enjoy a week-long summer holiday.
Also with her on the trip to La Mole, a small airstrip 25 minutes’ drive from Saint Tropez, were nanny Sally Hughes and police protection officers Graham Ellery and John Hodgkinson.
The group had rented Le Mas de Pigerolle, a five-bedroom pink stucco country house on ten acres of land, four miles from the pretty village of Bormes Les Mimosa, before Ferguson and the children joined the Royal Family at Balmoral.
What they didn’t know was that a French photographer, Daniel Angeli, was following them, after they had traveled a mile through the undergrowth.
He was about to create a scandal that would be compared to the Abdication Crisis of almost sixty years earlier.
Texan John Bryan kisses the right foot of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, at a villa in France in August 1992. The publication of the image and several others sparked a scandal that would be compared to the Abdication Crisis.
Sarah Ferguson with her “financial adviser” John Bryan at the wedding of Lord Weidenfeld and Annabelle Whitestone, 1992
The group had rented Le Mas de Pigerolle, a five-bedroom cottage with pink stucco cladding on ten acres of land, four miles from the pretty village of Bormes Les Mimosa (above).
Sarah Ferguson flew with her group in a private plane to a small airstrip, La Mole.
On Thursday 20 August, the Mirror, which had paid £60,000 for her photographs, published them under the headline: ‘Fergie’s stolen kisses: The truth about the Duchess and the Texas millionaire’.
The 55 photographs spread across nine pages showed a topless Fergie rubbing sunscreen on her bald financial adviser’s head, kissing him, lying under him and letting him kiss or lick (the actual activity has since been disputed) her toes.
He proved that, despite his denials until that very week, he was more than just an adviser. The images were broadcast around the world.
It was later discovered that a large ditch had been dug about a hundred metres from the villa and the pool.
The images confirmed that these were not grainy long-distance shots, but close-ups and, due to the various swimsuit changes, taken over three days.
The royal entourage had been alerted by rangers to the presence of lurking photographers, but no action appears to have been taken.
A video was also filmed, later released by Dutch filmmaker Joost Kraanen.
Recollections of events at Balmoral after the news broke vary.
The Duchess wrote in her memoirs that she had spent the evening drinking brandy with one of her nannies, Alison Wardley, and then had breakfast upstairs. She claimed that Andrew had brought the breakfast papers upstairs.
But royal journalist James Whittaker claimed, based on interviews with Balmoral staff, that she walked into the breakfast room to find everyone reading the story.
Sarah was summoned at 9.30am to explain herself to the Queen, to whom her deputy press secretary, John Haslam, had faxed a press conference that morning.
Contrary to reports that the Duchess left Balmoral immediately, she remained hidden in a cottage on the Balmoral estate for the next few days.
Sarah spent much of her time on the phone with Diana, Princess of Wales, and a healer, Madame Vasso, before taking a commercial flight home on Sunday while the others were at church.
How the story was leaked has been the subject of speculation.
Journalist and author Tina Brown suggested that it was Diana who warned the press, because apart from police protection agents, she was the only person who knew about the holiday.
And the Mail’s Richard Kay said Diana texted him the night before the photos were published, saying, cryptically: “The redhead is in trouble.”
But as the Duchess and her daughters were being transferred abroad, the Queen and members of her staff would have been informed of the holiday.
The night before the photos were published, there was no secret about what had happened.
The duchess’s mother, Susan Barrantes, later claimed the holiday had been leaked by Buckingham Palace as part of an intelligence campaign to discredit Sarah and allow Andrew custody of the children.
Sarah in her first public appearance since the ‘toe-sucking’ scandal
The Duchess left Balmoral after a meeting with the Queen while the rest of the family were at church.
Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew later that year at the birth of Princess Beatrice.
In her book, My Story, Sarah wrote: ‘My suspicions further indicated to me that The Firm colluded with the Press in leaking details of my whereabouts.’
It was a view shared by the Duchess, who wrote in her memoir, My Story: ‘My suspicions further told me that The Firm colluded with the press in leaking details of my whereabouts.
‘The press then alerted the French photo agency and the deal was closed.’
The party was no secret. The French police had alerted two local photographers and photographs of the group’s arrival appeared the following day in the Nice-Matin newspaper.
The two rented Mercedes were followed to Le Mas de Pignerolle and news of their presence spread quickly after a dinner in Saint Tropez.
On August 13, the Sun published photographs of Fergie arriving with a large headscarf and wearing dark sunglasses.
A few days later, the Mail on Sunday published photographs of her “pink palace… holiday retreat”.
But that doesn’t explain how Angeli had had so much warning, to the point that Bryan claimed that “they had actually come to the pool and measured out where they would take the pictures from; they had been there for days, scouting the location and building a little fort.”
So the mystery of who tipped off the paparazzi continues.
Andrew Lownie is currently writing a joint biography of the Duke and Duchess of York.
He is the author of books including Traitor King: The Scandalous Exile of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.
