Fergie - 'Mum left me when I was 11 – it was hugely traumatic and only having cancer helped me find my true self'

Sarah, Duchess of York is one of those rarest of people. She has overcome constant adversity and unfair criticism while spending more than 35 years under the gruelling media spotlight. And yet, she remains resolutely committed to the pillars of kindness and doing all she can to benefit others.

This determination was highlighted when the Duchess travelled to Manchester to become patron of Prevent Breast Cancer, before taking a walk on the famous cobbles of Coronation Street – and OK! was lucky enough to accompany her. The Duchess had been approached to support the charity by actress Sally Dynevor (who plays Sally Metcalfe on the long-running soap), when the pair got chatting backstage at ITV’s daytime show, Loose Women.

And after Sally explained she was trying to secure the future of the National Breast Imaging Academy with a final fundraising push, Sarah’s reaction was guttural: “I had to help!”, she exclusively tells us.

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“I told Sally, ‘I’m coming to Manchester’. We’ll get to work and help you raise the last £600,000. Every little bit helps and that’s why everyone doing all this work here is so important. Fifty seven thousand people are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and I am very proud, and excited, to be part of the National Breast Imaging Academy.”

Her arrival, which coincided with Breast Cancer Awareness Month, saw the Duchess tour the centre with Sally and her fellow Coronation Street cast member, Sue Cleaver (Eileen Grimshaw).

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Reflecting on the moment she approached Sarah about the charity, Sally told OK!: “It was just an off-the-cuff remark to her because Sarah is very warm and I suddenly thought, ‘I need to tell her what we’re doing up here in Manchester because it’s so important and she’s been through breast cancer, so she understands completely’. I told her about what we’re raising the money for and she said, ‘I’ll help you raise it’. And I instantly knew she was going to do it.”

Cancer has cruelly touched the Royal Family this year, with both the King and the Princess of Wales being diagnosed and treated for their illnesses. With the monarch becoming the Patron of Cancer Research UK in April, and the Princess speaking so openly about what she’s gone through, Sarah is certain that the late Queen Elizabeth II would be immensely proud of her family.

“She really was the most iconic and legendary woman,” the Duchess says as she remembers her beloved mother-in-law. “Her Late Majesty was a great believer in kindness and was a leader of understanding and a leader of goodness. I think having His Majesty and the Princess of Wales out there as ambassadors is so important and I am just so incredibly pleased that her value system, her integrity and what she stood for in this country are being upheld.”

As well as the Duchess’s own challenges with both breast and skin cancer, her father – Major Ronald Ferguson – faced two cancer diagnoses throughout his life. As a result, much of Sarah’s charity work revolves around supporting cancer patients – including with the Teenage Cancer Trust, of which she has been patron since 1990.

Yet with all she’s been through, Sarah is adamant that cancer has not been her toughest hurdle to overcome.

“I think the whole journey of my life has been very interesting. My mum chose to live in Argentina when I was 11 years old and that must have been very difficult for the little girl to be left. So I think that was a really huge trauma, and from then on, it’s been one of getting to know who Sarah was and trying to get her out.

“I often say, does it take someone to be scarred with the mastectomy in order to find your true self? We all go through self-doubt, self-hatred, but I think that I’ve always met adversity in a very cerebral way – the only one which really foxed me was cancer because I could not comprehend the word. I couldn’t comprehend the diagnosis. I don’t think it was the most challenging, but I think it was certainly the one that had to use an awful lot more understanding.”

And while the Duchess has always been a fierce advocate for her charities and organisations, it is clear that her mindset has shifted towards finding her true self. As she previously said on her Tea Talks podcast with co-host Sarah Thomson, her encounter with the disease had prompted her to start “fighting for Sarah” and focus on “putting Sarah first” – something which absolutely came through during her visits on Wednesday.

“My mindset going forward is to not be self-full but to be self-love,” she said. “If you don’t keep your boundaries for yourself, who is going to do it for you? If you don’t keep your authentic truth, who is going to do it for you? We need to have more self-love and have the boundaries to take a moment to ourselves.”

In truth, the Duchess’ energy and enthusiasm are the first things you notice about her. She’s sharp, witty and thoroughly impressive as she remembers every single person’s name, makes jokes at the drop of a hat and will happily turn her hand to anything... including transforming into a landlady pulling a pint of bitter at Coronation Street’s legendary Rovers Return pub. Testing out her best Mancunian accent, Sarah asked Sally, “What will you have, lass?”

The two then paid tribute to the late Queen, who marked the soap’s 60th anniversary with a visit to the set in 2021. The Duchess said: “We ought to drink a pint to my wonderful mother-in-law. She really loved her time here.”

The day also came ahead of her landmark 65th birthday on 15 October, an event which has a particular undercurrent of significance this time around. “This birthday is something that I’m really going to enjoy,” Sarah explained. “I haven’t planned anything but I’m really going to enjoy it. It’s not because I’m so lucky to have made it. It’s because 65 years on this planet is quite something.

“I’m still here. I beat my mum. Mum died at 62. I miss Diana [the late Princess of Wales], she’s not here, my best friend, Carolyn, she’s not here. And so I’m here and I want to do something, but I don’t know what to do yet… all I know is I don’t want it planned. It is a milestone but I don’t look at it like I look at it. My achievement is to be even more humble than I was yesterday, to be a better person than I was yesterday and to be kinder and to show more joy.”

In a further boost to the Duchess, the wonderful news that Princess Beatrice is expecting her second child with husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, was recently announced. And she’s clearly brimming with happiness as she explains how she plays with her two daughters’ children.

“It’s such a blessing to see the family growing,” she told us. “To know that I’m so proud of my girls being really fabulous mothers is such a huge tonic in my life, as is having beautiful grandchildren, who are all doing so well. I’ve learned alast wbout trains and because August and Ernest love playing with trains – but I can play Barbies with Sienna just like I used to with the girls – I’m still learning trains, though, because boys are so different!"