Sarah was noticeably absent from the wedding of her niece, Heidi Luedecke, in early June, despite the reception being hosted at Dummer Down Farm in Hampshire, where she spent her childhood. A source told the Daily Mail: “Sarah would have been surrounded by love, had she turned up. She could have kept a low profile without too many problems.”
When Ms Luedecke’s engagement to art consultant Ben Collinson was announced in 2023, Sarah said she was “devoted” to the couple, describing her sister Jane’s daughter as “my golden niece whom I love so much”.
Ms Luedecke’s wedding was held on Saturday, June 6, the same day Princess Anne’s son married Harriet Sperling in the Cotswolds.
While Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie opted to attend Mr Phillips’ wedding alongside the King and Queen, Sarah and her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor avoided both celebrations.
Sarah has stayed out of the spotlight since her appearance in a batch of files released on paedophile Jeffrey Epstein by the US Department of Justice earlier this year.
Epstein has been the downfall of Andrew, who was stripped of his titles by the King because of “serious lapses of judgment” over his friendship with the late sex offender.
Sarah also lost her courtesy title of royal divorcee and reverted to her maiden name, and lost the freedom of the city of York after councillors voted unanimously to remove the honour.
The former duchess was tracked to a £2,000-a-night chalet in the Austrian Alps in April, where she is thought to remain, with reports suggesting she could move abroad permanently.