From The Mirror - :flower:
FERGIE MAKES HER POINT WITH NO COMPLAINTS Nov 26 2003
A YOUNG Sarah Ferguson, the scatty, troublesome and gracelessly podgy member of the royal family, was once described by her ex father-in-law as "pointless''.
Sometimes the most cruel, cack-handed and ignorant comments can trigger, in some people, the determination to become victor not victim.
Judging by her appearance on Parkinson at the weekend, Prince Philip only did Fergie a lot of favours.
Ten years ago she wore Laura Ashley prints and looked like a jolly, rosy-cheeked milkmaid, pretty but hardly princess material. Today she's an elegant size ten with the poise of Grace Kelly, the assurance of a young Queen Noor and a multi-millionairess in her own right.
Not bad for a woman once the size of a small country with a spending habit that made Elton John look thrifty.
You could call Fergie a lot of things but, even Prince Philip would have to concede now, pointless is not one of them. It takes a lot to make the quantum leap from underdog to top cat but Fergie's achieved the impossibly difficult task of rehabilitating herself with the British public, who don't suffer fools gladly.
To her credit, she understood the only way to face down savage criticism and wicked put-downs was to get out of the firing line, pick herself up and get on with making a life with daughters Beatrice and Eugenie.
In America, where she would cause least embarrassment to the royals, she's earned fortunes by fronting WeightWatchers. And quietly, at home, she's shed four stone, forged a happy alliance with the father of her girls and stuck herself behind a computer to write children's books.
She may not be the next JK Rowling but credit to her. She's kept her counsel, refused to cast the blame on anyone for her troubles or put herself in the position of going cap in hand to the former in-laws for financial support.
Parkinson drew her dangerously close to condemning the royal family for the mess she became after marriage to Prince Andrew. But she refused to enter into a slanging match and sang the praises of the monarchy - despite the fact she was treated, along with Diana, as an insufferable thorn in their side.
During her divorce settlement it seemed, at one point, she'd be left without a roof over her head. And still she's ostracised from royal events; at Christmas her daughters will enjoy lunch with the family at Sandringham while she stays alone in an estate cottage. Memorably, after one visit, she was handed a bill for the use of light bulbs and loo rolls.
When she held a memorial service after the death of her mother, Susan Barrantes, senior royals snubbed the occasion. It takes some strength of character not to crack in the face of such hostility, and perhaps the hardest thing Fergie's had to do is hold her tongue and not pass the buck or whinge about the treatment meted out to her.
She tends to talk in psychobabble and therapy speak but she has enough nous to recognise self-pity is a futile exercise which earns no respect. It's a lesson Michael Barrymore should have learned when he bleated endlessly about his pain and suffering over the death of Stuart Lubbock.
The British public will only welcome with open arms anyone prepared to shoulder some of the blame, accept they've made mistakes, swear to learn from them and move on.
Talking on Parky, it was made crystal clear by Fergie just how mindbending the pressures of living in the goldfish bowl of royalty can be. But, unlike Diana, she admits it was partly her own inability to cope which caused her to binge on doughnuts and indulge in maniacal spending sprees.
How easy it would have been for Fergie to complain life's not fair or berate the royals for ruining hers. Instead, she took it on herself to be cheerleader for the monarchy, rousing the audience into applause for the House of Windsor.
Pointless, Prince Philip?
How the tide has turned.