Princess Beatrice appeared solemn today as she attended the funeral of her mother’s ex-boyfriend Paddy McNally.
The late Formula One advertising mogul reportedly left Sarah Ferguson ‘an allowance’ following his death at the age of 88 last month.
Mr McNally was buried at St James’ Church in Sevenhampton, Wiltshire, but it is not known whether the former duchess of York was in attendance alongside her 38-year-old daughter.
He leaves behind an estimated £600million fortune, built on the sale of his hospitality business Allsport Management for £262million in 2006.
Mr McNally and Ms Ferguson had a three-year affair that ended in 1985 but the tycoon supported the former duchess – who was 22 years his junior – for years.
While it is not known how close Princess Beatrice would have been with McNally, she and her sister Eugenie – who gave birth just last week – enjoyed many family holidays at his properties in their childhood.
The former duchess, 66, was last seen in public at a luxury ski resort in the Austrian alps in April.
She has taken a step back from public life in recent months due to criticism over her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
Mr McNally died peacefully on July 22 following a long illness – just two months after the sudden death of his son Sean, one of his two boys by his late wife Anne.
Princess Beatrice appeared solemn today as she attended the funeral of her mother’s ex-boyfriend Paddy McNally
‘He was in a bad way for a while so this comes as good news,’ an old friend told the Daily Mail’s Richard Eden after his death.
Mr McNally was born in Gravesend, Kent, and was educated at the £54,000-a-year Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. He owned three chalets in the Swiss ski resort of Verbier – one of which became known as ‘Cocaine Castle’ – as well as Sevenhampton Place in Wiltshire, a property in St Tropez and a grouse moor in Scotland.
He met Ms Ferguson after she was recruited to look after Sean and his brother Rollo, following his wife Anne’s death in 1980.
At the time Mr McNally was well on his way to amassing a fortune thanks to his work alongside Bernie Ecclestone in setting up the Formula One Paddock Club, which revolutionised corporate entertainment within the sport.
The business made him the 238th richest man in Britain at one point, with a £600million fortune by the time of his death on July 22.
His wealth allowed him to entertain his friends with all manner of adult entertainment – much to Ms Ferguson’s delight.
But their three-year affair ended in 1985 and a year later she was engaged to the then prince Andrew.
When the news of his death broke, it led many to speculate that Mr McNally – who was a widower before he met the former duchess and never remarried – could solve Ms Ferguson’s financial woes for good.
The pair remained friends for years throughout Ms Ferguson’s marriage and subsequent divorce from Andrew and despite her years of debt.
Mr McNally stood by her to the end, even in recent months when the shame of her 20-year friendship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was made public.
After she and Andrew were kicked out of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park last February, she fled to an Austrian spa and then to Mr McNally’s home in Switzerland.
Ms Ferguson reportedly stayed in his £25million chalet – nicknamed ‘Cocaine Castle’ for the parties he hosted – ‘because he always wanted to help her’.
An associate of Ms Ferguson’s told The Mail On Sunday’s Caroline Graham: ‘The first question everyone thought was, “is Paddy going to bail her out for good?” He was fiercely loyal to her throughout her scandals, and there were many.
‘Even in recent months he’s let her stay in his chalet. If he’s left her life-changing money, wouldn’t that be something?’
Another man, who moved in the same circles as the former duchess, added: ‘Paddy was shrewd. No one would be surprised if he’s left her a house and cash, but you can bet it’s in a private trust with a monthly income. He’d never give her a lump sum because he knows how easily she’d blow through it.’
Ms Ferguson is said to be ‘devastated’ by the death of the man she once described as a ‘father figure’ and ‘mentor’, telling one interviewer: ‘He taught me so much about life. When I wanted advice I turned to him. He seemed to have seen and done everything.’
Beatrice’s last appearance in public came last month as she holidayed in Athens with her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi.
The couple, whose relationship is said to be on the rocks, met up with art curator Aliki Lampropoulos following their sixth wedding anniversary.
Though it’s not certain when the image was taken, Ms Lampropoulos, who served as a host committee member alongside the royal at The Charge charity gala in London in 2014, shared a selfie with the beaming couple on Instagram yesterday.
Beatrice married property developer Edo, 42, at the Chapel of All Saints on the Windsor estate, after the Covid pandemic forced the couple to cancel a larger wedding.
However, the ceremony was somewhat overshadowed by Beatrice’s disgraced father, Andrew, who was forced to step back from public life over his relationship with Epstein in November 2019.
It comes as, on the latest episode of the Daily Mail’s Palace Confidential, senior editor-at-large Richard Kay said he believed Ms Ferguson had been staying with Mr McNally over the summer.
Kay was joined by Diary Editor Richard Eden to discuss Mr McNally’s passing – and said he believes the former duchess stayed at the tycoon’s ‘luxuriously appointed’ Verbier villa this summer.
He added: ‘That makes sense because these places have a completely different vibe during the summer. They’re not packed with Brits out there for skiing.
‘You get a few middle-aged people who like walking in the hills, but it’s much more laid-back and low-key. A perfect place to hide up.
‘People like Paddy would have had all sorts of trusts and things in place to take care of inheritance tax and other requirements. I have always been led to believe that he wanted to leave a sizeable amount of his money to various charities.
‘I also hear that he took the view that he had provided for her a great deal throughout her life.’
Royal author Phil Dampier recently warned that Ms Ferguson can never be written off and believes she may try to tell ‘her side of the story’ soon in an attempt to ‘get back in with the King for the sake of her daughters’.
He told the Daily Mail: ‘It’s quite extraordinary how Sarah Ferguson bounces back time and time again.
‘She has had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra and it looks like she may pull off her most incredible yet.
‘She seemed down and out after the Jeffrey Epstein scandal which ruined her and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and she disappeared for months on end until she was tracked down to an Austrian spa resort.
‘But now it seems she spent some time recently living with her first serious boyfriend Paddy McNally, and with his death she stands to solve her financial problems.
‘He was said to be worth £600million and I’m sure he would have left her a substantial sum as they always remained close and were best friends.
‘His wife died some years ago and one of his sons sadly died earlier this year so he only had one son left. So I’m sure he would have made provision for Fergie.’
He added, however, that Mr McNally knew Ms Ferguson ‘spends money like water as soon as she gets it’ – and it’s likely he would ‘be more likely to give her an annual regular allowance rather than a lump sum, as she would fritter it away’.
‘That makes sense to me as she is a notorious spendthrift,’ Mr Dampier continued. ‘Indeed, it was her need for money which led into the orbit of Epstein in the first place and led to a trail of destruction for the former Duke and Duchess of York.
‘My first assignment as a royal journalist was exactly forty years ago in 1986 when I covered her wedding to Prince Andrew.
‘So it’s unbelievable to have seen how things have turned out. She had only just split up with McNally a year or two earlier and very much married Andrew on the rebound, as he did from his relationship with the American actress Koo Stark.
‘But Fergie always carried a torch for Paddy and remained in touch. She would always go back to him or stay with him in times of trouble and he always baled her out. So what now?’
Mr Dampier also believes Ms Ferguson may come back to the UK in the near future.
He said: ‘Up until this turn of events I would have said Fergie might have moved abroad, possibly to Portugal where her daughter Eugenie lives much of the time, or Australia, where her sister lives.
‘But now I think it’s likely she will stay in the UK and there have been reports she is house-hunting in the Windsor area.
‘She has had a lot of time to think in the months she has been keeping a low profile and she may have plans already to launch a new business, re-invent herself yet again as a media personality, and she will definitely want at some stage to try and tell her side of the story.
‘She will want to salvage her reputation and portray herself as a victim of Epstein’s lies and circumstances.
‘Whether that is possible is another matter, but with financial security it will enable her to take her time and hire some good PR people.
‘I think it’s less likely she will write yet another autobiography and spill the beans on the royals.
‘And she will want to try and get back in with the King for the sake of her daughters, or at least not upset Charles. Fergie still has her fans, and you can never write her off.’
