By 2010, Sarah Ferguson had been divorced from Prince Andrew for 14 years, but the two remained close. Andrew was then serving as the UK’s Special Representative for International Trade and Investment, travelling the world to promote British business.
Sarah, meanwhile, was reported to be struggling with serious money problems.
In May 2010, she agreed to meet a man she believed was a wealthy Indian businessman. The meeting took place in a London hotel. What she did not know was that the businessman was really Mazher Mahmood, an undercover reporter for the News of the World famous for his disguises. He was nicknamed the Fake Sheikh. Every moment was being filmed.
On the recording, Sarah appeared to offer to introduce the businessman to Andrew in exchange for £500,000. She was filmed accepting a payment in cash as a first instalment. One line from the tape became infamous: she told him to look after her, and Andrew would look after him.
The newspaper published the story on 23 May 2010. The footage was quickly shared around the world, and the scandal was enormous. Britain’s trade envoy, a senior member of the royal family, appeared to be on offer to the highest bidder.
Buckingham Palace said Prince Andrew knew nothing about the meeting. Sarah issued a public apology. She said she deeply regretted the situation and the embarrassment it had caused, and described it as a serious lapse in judgement, which she put down to her financial pressures.
The sting badly damaged her reputation. Reports said she was not invited to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton the following year.
For Andrew, it added to growing questions about his role and his associations, questions that would become far more serious in the years that followed. In 2011, he stepped down as trade envoy.
The 2010 tape remains one of the most damaging recordings ever made of a member of the royal family. It showed how money, access and royal status could become dangerously tangled, and how one hidden camera could expose it all.