Princess Diana and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, were once celebrated as the glamorous, fun-loving sisters-in-law who brought a breath of fresh air to the British royal family. Their close bond, however, dramatically collapsed in the mid-1990s — and according to royal observers, the final straw was a seemingly trivial revelation in Ferguson’s 1996 autobiography My Story.
The controversial passage that reportedly caused the irreparable rift was Ferguson’s casual mention of borrowing Diana’s shoes. She wrote: “When I lived in Clapham, Diana helped me by giving me all her shoes (and, less happily, her plantar warts) — we wore the same size.”
What many viewed as a lighthearted anecdote about shared footwear and an unfortunate case of plantar warts (verrucas) was taken as a deep betrayal by Princess Diana. Royal author Andrew Lownie has highlighted this line as the moment the friendship died. Diana, known for her intense privacy and sensitivity to how she was portrayed in the media, felt the comment exposed her in an embarrassing and unnecessary way.
A Friendship Under Strain
Diana and Ferguson had bonded long before their respective marriages to Princes Charles and Andrew. They were often pictured laughing together, supporting each other through the challenges of royal life, and even engaging in playful antics that contrasted with the monarchy’s traditional stiffness.
By the mid-1990s, however, both women’s marriages were crumbling publicly, and the tabloid press eagerly pitted them against each other — Diana as the elegant, wronged princess and Ferguson as the chaotic “Fergie.” Amid this pressure, Ferguson’s decision to publish a tell-all memoir proved disastrous for their relationship.
According to multiple accounts, Diana had specifically asked Ferguson not to write about her, Prince William, or Prince Harry. Despite these requests, My Story included several references to Diana. The shoe-and-wart comment, in particular, crossed a line. Tina Brown, in her book The Diana Chronicles, described the line as “fatal,” noting that it effectively sent Ferguson “to Siberia for good” in Diana’s eyes.
Paul Burrell, Diana’s former butler, later claimed the princess was furious that her sister-in-law had ignored her wishes and shared personal details in a commercially motivated book.
No Reconciliation
The fallout was swift and permanent. The two women were reportedly not speaking by the time of Diana’s tragic death in 1997. Ferguson has since suggested she never fully understood why the friendship ended so bitterly, but royal insiders maintain the autobiography was the decisive factor. While Ferguson has occasionally spoken warmly of Diana in later years, the relationship was never repaired.
The incident remains a poignant example of how, under the relentless glare of public scrutiny, even small perceived slights can destroy high-profile relationships. What began as a story of two young women navigating royal life together ended with silence and resentment — triggered, ultimately, by a pair of borrowed shoes and an unwelcome case of warts.
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