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Duchess of York Talkasia Transcript
Duchess of York (Sarah Ferguson): DY BLOCK A: LH: Hello and welcome to Talk Asia. I'm Lorraine Hahn. My guest today is the Duchess of York. Sarah Ferguson was born in London in October 1959. She graduated from Secretarial College at 18, and worked for a public relations firm before moving onto an art gallery and a publishing company. Though not of royal birth, she enjoyed a jet-setting social life, and became an international household name when she married Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, in July 1986. Good natured and outspoken, Sarah Ferguson brought a refreshing, commoners touch to the British Royal family, and was initially popular with the media. But problems within the marriage soon surfaced, and public opinion turned on her. Her clothes, her weight, her brash personality were constantly criticized. In March 1992, the Duke and Duchess of York separated, and eventually divorced 4 years later. Since then, the Duchess has been reinventing herself away from Royal life. She has hosted her own talk show, been a spokesperson for a diet program, and has written several books, including a children's series about a helicopter named Budgie. More recently, she has been working closely with children's charities, and has been named a global ambassador for World Children's Day. Duchess, thank you very much for being on the show, it's good to see you. You have been doing a lot of charity work for a number of years now, but how did it all start? DY: My grandmother said to me, many years ago, that when you feel bad about something it's very good to go and give to other people. You suddenly realize how lucky you are. So, with the prayer, the Francis of Assisi prayer in my hand, I went off to Poland in 1992. I found the most polluted area in Eastern Europe, was at the Upper Silesia track, and the trees are black; they're still black. And the children were dying from the air they breathe. So I traveled there to see what I could do. LH: But there's so many worthwhile charities out there. I mean how do you decide, and why did you decide on children? DY: I think it's very important for children that sometimes don't have a voice, to use me as their vehicle in order to get their voice across. And when children are left to die alone, abandoned, without the love of parents, or doctors and nurses not around, or no sense of hope for the future, I find it wrong. And I can't really be on a public stage and not use it in order to get a voice out there. I think there should be no borders for suffering, no race, creed, color or any other denomination, and I feel very strongly about the fact that, if you help one child, you help many. LH: You were recently in Poland, and then Mexico City. What did you take away from those trips? DY: I think every day you can learn from a child, so whether you go, especially into another country, Poland, Mexico, wherever I am, and indeed coming to Hong Kong, just to be able to get off an airplane into Hong Kong and meet Donald. Donald, who was in Ronald McDonald house for 3 years, right, he had leukemia. Now, he's free, and now he's feeling better. What I'm really saying is that I wouldn't like to be in a house for 3 years knowing that I had a really bad illness, I wouldn't want that. So, therefore, wherever I go, and whichever country I go to, I try to understand the culture, I try to know what it must feel like, and thereby I can talk about it on a public stage without a script. My trip to Mexico City was one of the most illuminating and inspiring trips, because I walked into the Ronald McDonald house and I found this lovely lady who had a daughter, just been diagnosed with leukemia, and she was going to die. And I said to the mum, mum, what would you do without this Ronald McDonald house, and she said, my daughter would die with no dignity. And no respect, because I would be living on the street outside the hospital. Now, I'm sorry, but I would not want to see my children, A, I would not want to know that they were going to die, but then to live on the street. It just makes me realize how lucky I am, my grandmother was right. Going to Poland, you see Adrian, my friend, and Adrian was a street boy, nothing, mum and dad threw him out of the house because they couldn't cope with him, and he's very ill. And I gave him a little bear, and he gave me his pink elephant. And he said, 'no, you have it, because I'm not sure I'm gonna need it that much longer.' LH: It must be heart wrenching at times. DY: Well I think it's very emotional, but actually I like solutions, and to be able to stand up for World Children's day, and raise the 50 million that we're hoping to raise in 2005 is an extraordinary achievement. LH: You're also involved with a group called SOS Children's villages. What does that focus on? DY: SOS Children's Villages started in 1948, and it's an organization that believes to keep children together, when children on the streets are foster children, and each house has a care mother, and in the house the brothers and sisters are allowed to stay together. LH: And I understand that it's also helping the Tsunami victims, right? DY: Yes, what it does is not only has these children lost their parents, but now they're being torn apart and their brothers and sisters are being put elsewhere. SOS children's village is very much determined to keep the children together, and that's really the bottom line of that charity. LH: Have you actually been out there, to the Tsunami areas? DY: No, I haven't yet. But I am preparing a trip to go there later on next year. I feel that, I've always been one of these people, and when I started children in crisis, that it's very important to go where children are forgotten. And when a disaster hits, like the tsunami, or hurricane Katrina, or very real problems in the recent months, I notice everyone focuses on it, and the media's there, a lot of money's raised, and I absolutely think it's dead right, but, what about the other children? What about the pediatric problem of children dying with aids in Africa, What about the children of Romania, children of Poland, there is still this mass urgency to give a child a life. So yes, I think a lot of celebrities, a lot of people focus on the Tsunami, and quite rightly so, however, we must always keep our eye on the focus, on where the demands of children are. LH: Duchess, we're going to take a very, very short break. When we come back, Sarah Ferguson shares life lessons from her time as a member of the British Royal Family. Stay with us. BLOCK B: LH: Welcome back to Talk Asia. My guest is Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. Duchess, when you married Prince Andrew, you were considered a very refreshing addition to the Royal family, you were considered outspoken, fun. Did you see yourself as someone very different? DY: I think I'm Irish, and I have red hair, and Andrew still calls me the hurricane. And I think I do believe very strongly, when I feel that I want to get a word out. Hence the reason why I think that I'm very proud to be able to do my job. Because, to be able to speak on a public stage with a passion, you've got to speak it from the heart. And yes, when I married Andrew, I married with my heart. I didn't, he happened to be a prince, but I married my man, and I married a sailor, and a prince, and you know, but I married with my heart. And I think that's why I'm so proud to be on the public stage, speaking for children now, because I'm speaking from here. LH: What was the hardest part of being a member of the Royal family? DY: I didn't think that, I think that was a time in my life which I learnt so much from, and I think her Majesty is one of the finest women that I've met in my life. And it would be totally incorrect of me to really talk about the Royal Family. Because, also, let's not forget that her Majesty is the grandmother to my children, and I am so lucky to even have been able to say and speak about her Majesty as I do. She's one of the finest people that I have ever met. LH: You've been through intense highs, intense lows. What has made you the survivor that you are? DY: Oh yes, that's an interesting one. I think that my boundaries, perhaps, had to be set by myself, which is quite interesting isn't it, cause it's difficult to set your own boundaries, because you have to have self discipline, and I don't think that was one of my qualities really. So, the best thing about learning about obstacles that is set us is that it's chaos really, we set so many different obstacles, and it's how we deal with them. But, um, I never knew that. So every time that I thought that I'd made another mistake, or, that'd been very dark times, well, now I look back and I think, thank heavens. Because I so understand when people, perhaps, make mistakes. And my girls are brilliant, because, when I tell them off now, they say, don't worry mom, we know you've done it yourself. LH: Is your life very different now? Can you do anything you want really? DY: Actually, I feel happiest, which is really great, to be able to say now Lorraine, I feel happiest when I'm in the field. When I call the field, I mean, with no make-up on, and my hair tied back, and perhaps in Sierra Leone, or in a tent late at night when it's pouring rain, and you realize it's just pretty good, you know. And I really enjoy that, and it's being in Poland, going to, I spent the night on Monday night in the mountain haven, with 27 children around a bonfire, cooking sausages. Each child had a story to tell, and they were singing to me. These children were going to die, and yet they were singing to me. For me, there is nothing better. LH: Now that you're not part of the Royal family, was there an adjustment to make to regular life? DY: I think it was an enormous adjustment, at 24, to go into the Royal family. And I think it was even more of an adjustment to come back out again. It's pretty difficult every day, I find every day is a huge challenge, because you never know whether you're getting it right, but what is right? So at the end of the day, maybe you should just be yourself, but what is self? So you go on. And then it comes the spiral of being too self-analytical. On the other hand, if you really want to learn, you can learn from so many people. And I've always said that a child age 5 or a grandmother age 85, it's just up to you to want to learn. And, I'm so curious about how people work, that I'm fascinated how Donald can be so smiley, and have gone through so much. That Sandy, her make up on her eyes, her sweet, she's a little girl, and yet she was so proud. And I like that, I want to know how, she was excited, and her question was, are you happy? How lovely! (LH: exactly) What a wonderful question! (LH: What a question.) You know, fantastic! LH: Duchess, we've just seen a Royal wedding in Japan, with Princess Sayako marrying a commoner and giving up, basically, all ties to the monarchy. Do you have any advice for her? DY: Be herself. It's very difficult when you go into any organization where you have to keep certain traditions. I am a traditionalist, I love the monarchy, I uphold all the values, and I will stand up if the national anthem is played in any country. And I think that keep to the integrity of what you know. I would never give advice to anyone, but my particular, if I may say, keep firm to what you believe within yourself, and then everything else will fall into place. And I never did that, I ran around trying to please everybody, maybe I should have remained firm. You know, like Dorothy in the Wizard of OZ, you know. You go there, and there's a big voice, and all this is so frightening, and then you go behind the curtain, and it's not all really that frightening. LH: Duchess, we're going to take another very, very short break. When we come back, we'll talk to the Duchess of York about her upcoming projects, and what it's like being a mother of teenagers. Stay with us. BLOCK C: LH: You're watching Talk Asia, and my guest is Sarah Ferguson. Duchess, you've written several books, most notably a series of children's books about a helicopter named Budgie. Was that inspired by your own, personal experience? DY: Budgie the helicopter. Yes, it was actually, because, I remember it sitting down with, and I didn't realize he was a literary agent, and I was telling the story of my flying that day, and it's the most difficult thing to do, to learn to fly helicopters. And I only learnt it because Andrew flew one, and I couldn't really understand what he did, so I tried a bit to learn. And it's like, it's like sitting on a golf ball, not that you do that, but you know, and so you sort of have to learn balance, and wind, and everything, and it's very difficult. And, so I was explaining that when you went to the Queens flight, there's all these big helicopters, big aero planes, everybody's big, and then in the back of the hanger was my little, single engine helicopter. And he was like a budgie little car. And I could see that his cap was on wrong, and he had his socks were rolled down, and I turned him into a little boy. LH: Why children's books? DY: Because I'm a child. (LH: I heard you, you said you were 10) Yes, well I think I look good for 10, actually. But the thing is, Lorraine, is that I think I have relived my childhood through my girls. I think I'm a teenager, you know, I feel like that. But it's not because I actually, you can never try with children, cause they'll just walk off, you have to really feel it, otherwise don't do it. So I just love it, I can't really explain why I write children's books, but I actually go into "Little Red, my latest book, I actually go into buttercup cottage, and Gina the dog does talk, and the reindeer does put its feet in marshmallow tea. I mean, I don't know. LH: Speaking of children, I mean your own two girls are teenagers now. I mean. DY: I know, they're incredible. I mean, Beatrice is, they come with me everywhere, Beatrice is 17, and Eugenie's now 15, and they are extraordinary, they are extraordinary. LH: You're such a busy person, you travel so much. How do you balance being a mum, and you know, your other duties. DY: I think the secret to be a mum is to give quality. You can spend all day with your children, but be on the mobile telephone, watching tele, and speaking to five other people and not, you can ignore your child. Beatrice and Eugenie and I have such amazingly strong bonds that when we are together, no one else exists. I mean, I flew from, where did I come from, I can't even remember, I flew from Los Angeles to London to Hong Kong. Well, you know, most normal people would go Los Angeles/Hong Kong. You know, it's kind of on the way. Back to London, I just wanted to give Beatrice a hug. She needed it, so I went London for a hug, and I took her out of school, and I went and bought here a toasted cheese sandwich in the local tea shop. And, you know what, we had two hours together, and I promise you, she said 'mum, it's been the best time I've had in years,' because in that two hours we were in a tea shop, laughing. She was able to, I turned everything off, no telephones, and she was able to say 'Mummy, these are my problems, this is what I need, what do you think of this.' Dealt with. (LH: Amazing) That's what it's about, isn't it? (LH: That is, that is.) And I think Andrew and I uphold family unity, we both believe in co-parenting, he is absolutely, 100% behind me in every way, and I with him. And we actually are the happiest divorced couple in the world. And we live in the same house. And when the girls arrive from school, we all live together, you know. LH: You've also written books for adults, in particular your autobiography. Was that very hard to do, was it therapeutic? DY: It was impossible to write. (LH: The saga continues) Yes, you know, you have to keep looking, you have to really be very analytical and be honest about yourself, and you don't actually want to always look at what you've done and the mistakes you've made. Look at The Shawshank Redemption, halfway, all the way through that book I thought about The Shawshank Redemption, and how he'd wished he'd gone back to be the young lad who did the crime, and of course in my book I say, if only I could go back to the bride and redo it. LH: You've also been a spokesman for Weight Watchers, and you have an advice column, right? DY: I used to, yes, and I would like to more of that, if people want to talk, for Weight Watchers, that is, and I love doing that, people write in and I never give advice, I just say this is what I do, if it helps, then please let it help, but I would never preach or think that I could. I just answer letters. I loved it. Love questions. LH: Duchess, here in Asia, people are really conscious of their weight. I mean, there are fads, and people take medicine to try to loose weight, and some are even dying from it. DY: It's so important for everyone, all your viewers, to understand it's not about you can't do this, you can't do this, don't do this, don't do that. No, you can, but just, just moderation, and realize that dieting is not about whether you're going to get into your blue jeans; it's about whether you're going to see your children grow up. That's what's important, and you talk about young children, young girls, and it is important that we address the issue here, a lot of people say you shouldn't talk to children about dieting, well I'm saying, what age is children? You turn the tele on, every second moment there's somebody talking about a diet, or a food, or this. No, we have to educate. Without education, there's ignorance, and ignorance starts wars. Lack of communication, this is what's vital. LH: It sounds like you're such a busy person, I mean, what do you do to relax? DY: I watch TCM. (LH: Thank you!) I love Father Goose; I love everything to do with old fashioned black and white movies. You know, those Scaramouche, everything to do with taking you off into a world of make believe. It really is the best way into movies, because you really get so absorbed in it, you actually forget about what you're doing. I take photographs, paint watercolors, sometimes ride a horse, loves to ski, I love to laugh, enjoy laughing a lot, and I like going out to restaurants. LH: So where do you call home now? DY: Hmm, interesting one. Yes, I suppose. I'm a British citizen, and my girls are based at school there. So where girls are is home. If my girls go to school in Hong Kong, I'll be here. It's wherever the girls are, really. LH: What's next? Is there something you would like to do that you haven't tried yet, or done before? DY: There's many things I would like to do, yes, and there's many places I want to visit. The most important thing I want to do is I want to get up to the Tibetan Plateau (?) in China to see how those greenhouses are going for the children up there that really have no chance of getting fresh fruits or vegetables during when the winter hits. I want to go to Kashmir and see if I can help rebuild the situation, because in two or three weeks time that cold and that bad weather is going to hit those children that have been hit by an earthquake already. Those are the kinds of things that I want to achieve. I want to really make a difference through the eyes and voices, with children, because it's my passion. I don't know, it's just in me, and now I've embraced it, it took me a long time to embrace it, because to really do it, you've got to really do it. And you do kick and scream against it for a bit, because you think, no, okay. But then you suddenly go, no, you know what, I'm determined and I can do it. And my children have said they will share their mum. So, you know, my girls now have their mum, but they know that sometimes during the year they have to share their mum. LH: Duchess, thank you very, very much for you time, I really, really appreciate it. DY: No, thank you so much, thank you for taking our work so seriously, and taking me seriously. LH Yes thank you. And that is Talk Asia this week. My guest has been Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. I'm Lorraine Hahn, let's talk again next week. 
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