Before I launch into a rebuttal, here's an attempt to remain on topic!
Sarah and her daughters are in Spain, last weekend, Eugenie and her boyfriend Jack were spotted at the polo. For the past few years they have holidayed in Spain, Andrew has previously joined them there and 2 years ago that's where Beatrice celebrated her 21st. Andrew was spotted frolicking on a yacht (also an annual holiday, as I now there have been past photos of him) he was then seen catching a flight to Scotland so he must have gone up to Balmoral.
Actually, in my humble opinion, had Sarah declared bankruptcy, I expect that her creditors could have done equally as well or perhaps even better with regard to money. Australian bankruptcy I know nothing about, but in England and Wales, the bankrupt's Trustee in bankruptcy then takes over most of a person's property [basically leaving you the 'tools of your trade']. But the real loss would apparently be her real estate: it is always not entirely clear what Sarah owns, but it seems that there is her mother's estancia and its lucrative polo pony breeding business, and there has been mention in the British press about an appartment in new York, property in England and in Italy. She is also reputedly the beneficiary of a portion of her late father's will; the Dummer Farmhouse and remaining land, presently the home of her stepmother Susan, has reputedly been left to Susan for life and then to Major Ferguson's children, Sarah and her sister Jane and his children by Susan. I therefore think that it was a HUGE advantage to Sarah in not declaring bankruptcy - her debts have been settled by others and her own capital apparently remains intact....
Ok so a little dose of reality here in regards to what assets Sarah actually has and why declaring bankrupcy (on either occasion would have seen her creditors with little or nothing)
Sarah does not own the apartment in New York, it's leased, when Hartmoor went under she couldn't keep up the rental payments and so she sublet it. In 2001 Sarah did buy an investment property in Italy with the Italian count she she seeing, the idea was to turn it into a spa and holiday resort. Nothing came of that, so I've no doubt that it was quietly sold off.
The ranch in Argentina was heavily in debt, Susan Barrantes sold half of it to Kerry Packer (Australian millionaire who played polo) it was inherited by Hector Barrantes' brother Martin (Jane and Sarah Ferguson have a share in in, but not a controlling or large share) Martin's son Rafael runs the polo ponies business, it's his business Sarah doesn't have an interest or derives an income from it. Rafael lives on the ranch, his father doesn't.
Sarah owns a great deal of exquisite jewellery, well that's would be news to her. She does own the parure that was given to her for her wedding, (tiara, necklace, bracelets) but the jewellery that she owns wouldn't be anywhere near the value of the 4 million pounds (1990s) 2 to 4 million (depending of what source you use) that would clear the debts she had. Plus any good financial advisor worth his salt would have told her to put the jewellery in someone else's name before declaring bankruptcy!
Last year when Andrew's accountant tried to sort out Sarah's finances, what assets she owned were looked at. They consisted a a Bentley car (given to her as a gift from her Norwegian millionaire) but broken down mechanically since Sarah couldn't afford to get it repaired. (Andrew repaired it for her either for Christmas or her birthday last year) And a few paintings (no mention of furniture, infact none has ever been mentioned)
Dummer Down Farm is to be inherited by her brother Andrew, he farms it currently. Wills are made public in the UK, so the press could have easily found out if Sarah were to inherit a large sum it would be public knowledge, even if she had gotten anything after his death.
Ardent and RJ-H are different in my opinion. Prince Edward's company, as you so rightly say, went into receivership. Ditto RJ-H. But to me, the difference is that these were businesses that tried to trade. Sarah's financial woes - as wiser forum members than me have posted here - are the result of years and years of uncontrolled personal spending. As we know, Ardent was a film maker and RJ-H was a PR company. Sarah's company, Hartmoor, might well have been a victim of the recession, but the real reason for its demise must surely lie in the fact that it was UK analysts have described:- it was a flawed business model right from the start, as its 'stock in trade' was ''the Sarah brand' '', not the bona fide business of film making and PR. Hartmoor was set up in 2006 to manage Sarah's principally American-based career in publishing, media and public speaking.
The comparison with Ardent and RJH is relevant, Ardent was also a flawed business model, in all the years it traded it never made a profit. The only productions that it did make that made some money were the documentaries on royalty (shades of Sarah and her connections here!?) Edward also charged Ardent a rental fee for its use of the Bagshot stables as its offices, the company was loosing money but he was still milking it for what he could get. RJH got into trouble since Sophie also was accused of using her royal connections to promote the products or events from her PR company. (Her death knell was the 'fake sheik', that scandal forced her to withdraw from the day to day running of the company but she remained on the board, and I would assume received payment until 2 or 3 years ago when RJH was closed and its assets sold to cover the creditors, it didn't manage to do that)
Sarah's financial problems stemmed from Hartmoor's demise and some very bad financial advice she was given. While it may be your opinion and certainly one fueled by the tabloids that it was because of Sarah's 'uncontrolled spending' try looking at exactly what happened with Hartmoor. The business closed with $1,000,000 in debts,(it had a large number of employees and was leasing offices on Madison Ave, one of the most expensive parts of New York!) the lawyers then got involved, at any one meeting there were multiple lawyers all charging by the hour. When their bills were not paid, Sarah was then being charged interest on the bill, it then got to the stage where she was being charged interest on the interest. Her debt spiralled. I won't make the claim that Sarah is some sort of financial wizard, clearly she's not, she got bad advice, being the eternal optimist (this description from an aquaintance of mine who moves in the same circles) she believed she would set herself up financially. (John Bryant made the same claim during his 'financial advisor days!) She made a huge mistake in that she resigned from her Weight Watchers role (they confirmed it was Sarah who made the break, not the other way around). Sarah signed up with the Washington Speaker's Bureau (Her keynote speeches aren't actually about the royals, her profile included what she talks about and it's all motivational type talks) but with economic downturns, also comes downturns in conventions and conferences and companies prepared to pay large sums of money for a keynote speaker.
This was first seen in respect of the Queen's children when Gatcombe Park was 'given to Princess Anne and Mark Philips' by the Queen as a 'wedding gift'. But poor old Mark Philips NEVER had any legal interest in the property, which was put into the name of Anne alone [source; The Times]
The Mark Philips divorce settlement is another example of how Sarah's settlement wasn't as good. Gatcombe Park was bought in 1976, it included a large amount of farmland, Mark Philips had decided to leave the army and become a farmer. The Gatcombe acreage wasn't enough so in 1977 Anne and Mark went to buy the farm next door, Aston Farm. They didn't have the money the Queen lent it to them on a lease to buy option. Move to 1992 when the Philips divorce was finalised, Anne got to keep Gatcombe and Mark got Aston Farm, where he still lives to this day. His son Peter and family also live in a cottage on Aston Farm. Mark's settlement also included that he could continue to farm Gatcombe (although now he mainly works as an equestian consultant) and continue to derive an income from Gatcombe through shooting parties where people pay to shoot and the Horse Trials. Peter Philips is now involved in much of the organisation. Sarah didn't end up with a house of any kind, even if one had been bought it was to be in her daughters' names, she also wasn't given an option in regards to earning any kind of income.
A media career is one that she's chosen for herself, with the Oprah deal, she was paid $200,000 for (and lets be generous here, 3 to 4 months work, 2to 3 months filming, a month promoting. (I know to some it seemed longer but it was a month where she went on a variety of TV shows to promote the series) Where else would a 51 year old woman with obsolete secretarial skills earn that kind of money in 4 months? (Not to mention a woman heavily in debt!) In the early 2000s she was paid $400,000 by the US Today show to be their showbiz/royalty reporter. Her speaking engagements earned her $20,000 an engagement, that's what she charged and received. Yes she spent big but she also earned big, and she poured a lot of money into Hartmoor. And now we're back to well she lost it all. It will be interesting to see if the 'Sarah' brand is damaged in the US or not, currently she has over 27,000 followers on Twitter (it's steadily increasing, I've been checking!
) and it's not all reporters!
