Prince Andrew 'lonely' since deaths of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II says Sarah Ferguson

Sarah Ferguson said the deaths of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth are constantly on Prince Andrew's mind. She said he is still grieving in his own way.

The Duke of Edinburgh died in April 2021 and Her Majesty over a year later in September 2022. The Duchess of York opened up about how her ex-husband is feeling following the deaths of his parents in the sixth episode of her podcast "Tea Talks with Sarah and the Duchess" uploaded on July 13. She said they got to talking about it when they reminisced about the days spent in the Queen's Scottish estate where the family would usually spend the summer holidays in Balmoral.

"At one stage we both, Andrew and I, just sat quietly under some really beautiful trees, and I asked him if he was alright without his mum and dad," Fergie said adding, "He said, 'It's lonely,' you know?' He thinks about it a lot... It's sort of like people process grief in their own way."

Agreeing, her co-host Sarah Thompson said, "He had his parents for so long but then lost them in quick succession, and so that's hard as well" to which the duchess replied, "I think that is what's hard... his grief must be even more of a huge gap."

In the same episode, Ferguson shared that she is "allowed to do more walking" as she recovers following her single mastectomy. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in May following a routine mammogram screening. She took the doctors' advice as an opportunity to walk Queen Elizabeth II's corgis Sandy and Muick and her five other dogs with Prince Andrew.

She said, "I took all the seven doggies yesterday to where the Queen would have walked them, and so I was chatting to them saying, 'Now where do we go?' And they were sort of showing me the way. There was a little woodland walk that was made especially for the Queen and just so special."

Fergie said it was "wonderful" to have a moment to pause and reflect "because this time last year the Queen would have been going to Balmoral and we would have walked exactly where we walked yesterday together, and then the Queen would have said, 'See you up in Scotland.'"

The Duchess of York has always stood by Prince Andrew even after he stepped back from public life in 2019 and was accused of sexual abuse by Virginia Roberts Giuffre. She had nothing but nice words to say about her ex-husband whom she calls a good man and a "very good grandfather."

"With Prince Andrew, he's such a good man. He's a kind, good man, and I think the spotlight needs to come off of him and let him get on with his life to rebuild," she said during an interview on "Good Morning Britain" in April this year.

Speaking with co-hosts Kate Garraway and Adil Ray, Fergie said she had recently advised the duke to "talk more" to the Pilgrim Bandits. She referred to the military charity as "an extraordinary group of veterans" adding, "I think it is very important to focus on what you can do to bring others a bit of joy that are in less fortunate positions than yourself."

Ferguson has always spoken highly of Prince Andrew in past interviews even amid his sex scandal. Speaking about the duke with Times Radio she said, "I will stand very firmly by Andrew as a very good and kind man and that's what I believe."

Despite being divorced since 1996, she and the Duke of York continue to live under the same roof in Royal Lodge on the grounds of Windsor. Ferguson previously described themselves as the "happiest divorced couple in the world" because they "support each other like pillars of strength."