Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, has just seen her daughter, Princess Eugenie of York, get married to tequila promoter Jack Brooksbank. As we type this, she's off to the first of two celebratory receptions, and tomorrow, there's going to be a festival-themed hungover knees up. Though she's out having a great time, we want her to know, we need her to know - we need you to know - that she was our absolute hero of the royal wedding. She made it. And here's why:
1. The tan
Pale and gingery at her own wedding in 1986, Fergie's glow-up is incredible. Quite literally, she was glowing a mahogany brown. Whether it came from a bottle, a spray, a sunbed or, more likely, a trip on a yacht in the Med, wherever it came from, it, and she, looked incredible.
2. The dress
When you’re ginger, even if your skin is an ungingerly dark hue, green is your colour. Fabulously, Fergie’s colourways neatly matched her daughter Eugenie’s, who wore a tiara (borrowed from the Queen, no big deal) and earrings, both studded with emeralds. The pageboys’ and flower girls’ cummerbund and sashes also had splashes of vernal green, so it all cohered beautifully.
3. The hat
The alarmingly stark gold bow on the back of Fergie’s broad-brimmed hat led many to joke she was off to a Quidditch match to catch the golden snitch. But why would you need to grab the snitch when you’ve already got the winner on your head? And besides, was this gold bow not the golden wings of Hermes? Hermes the Greek God of messengers, the message being 'Fergie's back, baby?'
4. She was abundantly proud of her daughter
From the fist-bump she threw up as she arrived at St George's Chapel with Princess Beatrice, to the proud faces she pulled, to the chilled way she got on with the job of witnessing her daughter's marriage, she was totally unafraid to beam with pride. After so long being cast aside by the royals (more on that later) she thrived in her role of mother of the bride.
5. She invited an astounding array of celebrities
While Jack Whitehall, Oliver Proudlock of Made In Chelsea, James Blunt, Cara and Poppy Delevingne and Ellie Goulding were invited courtesy of their connections with the younger royals, and Chelsy Davey turned up courtesy of Prince Harry, Fergie got the big guns in. She’s the one who’s mates with Naomi Campbell and Demi Moore (they bonded over Kabbalah and Fergie later introduced Demi to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew Duke of York, and they…got on well) and Kate Moss (who brought daughter Lila along too), and Tracey Emin, and Stephen Fry, and Ricky bloody Martin, and Robbie Williams and Ayda Field (whose daughter Teddy was a flower girl). Now, the wedding would have still been great without all these big-name celebrities. But to have such a star-studded VIP list of celebrities in attendance, well, that was Fergie's doing.
6. She endured having to sit with arch-enemy Prince Phillip
Fergie's ex father-in-law used to be very close with Fergie - they shared ‘bawdy’ humour, apparently. But he was allegedly furious when photos of Fergie in flagrant with a man who wasn’t her husband, Prince Andrew, hit the tabloids, has held a grudge against Fergie ever since. Fergie also later got into trouble after being caught allegedly selling access to the Duke of York. Though Fergie and Prince Philip haven’t had to come into much contact since, they did today, and they both held it together. Fergie wasn’t even invited to The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s (Wills and Kate)’s formal wedding, and, reportedly at Harry’s insistence, she was at Meghan and Harry’s wedding, but was seated pretty far back in the quire, opposite the royal family’s section, on the bride’s side of proceedings,
7. She’ll be the life and soul of the party
Though one rumour before Meghan and Harry’s wedding went that Fergie wasn't invited by Prince Charles (who is so uninterested in Fergie that his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall Camilla, sacked off Eugenie and Jack's wedding so she could go to a school in Scotland instead) to the reception afterwards, she was. And she had so much fun - in her sharp, I-mean-business dress that she - reportedly - refused a dance with George Clooney. As her and Prince Andrew host Eugenie and Jack’s reception party, where 400 of Eugenie and Jack’s nearest and dearest will attend, finally she'll get to celebrate a royal wedding without any confusion over how welcome she is.