Sarah Ferguson Had a ‘Schoolgirl Crush’ on JFK Jr. and Was Jealous When Princess Diana Met Him, New Book Claims

NEED TO KNOW

• Sarah Ferguson became infatuated with John F. Kennedy Jr., an upcoming biography on the Duchess of York and her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, claims

• Author Andrew Lownie writes that Fergie was “furious” that Princess Diana met JFK Jr. first and said, “He’s mine”

• A spokesperson for the Duchess of York declined to comment when reached by PEOPLE

Sarah Ferguson once developed a crush on John F. Kennedy Jr. and was “furious” to learn that Princess Diana met him before she did, according to a bombshell new book on the Duchess of York and her ex-husband, Prince Andrew.

Author Andrew Lownie makes the claim in the upcoming biography, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, according to a new excerpt published by the Daily Mail on Aug. 4.

Entitled is a joint biography of the former couple, and the extract examined her tremendous debts and lavish lifestyle from the 1990s until around 2010.

A spokesperson for the Duchess of York declined to comment when reached by PEOPLE.

In the excerpt, Lownie writes that Ferguson, who is affectionately known as Fergie and retained her royal title following her divorce from Queen Elizabeth’s son in 1996, once invited JFK Jr. for drinks or dinner at her hotel in New York after learning they were there at the same time.

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The author alleges that Kennedy accepted and Fergie brushed off being told that he had a girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah.

“‘That’s not going to bother me!’ ” Lownie writes that Fergie said. “But it bothered Hannah, and Kennedy cancelled, claiming a prior engagement. Staff were then ordered to spy on his apartment all night to check that he had told the truth.”

“The duchess was not to be discouraged, especially after learning that Princess Diana had met Kennedy for 30 minutes at Christmas 1995 at a New York hotel. She was furious: ‘He’s mine! Why can’t she just leave him alone?’ ” the author writes.

Patrick Jephson, a private secretary and equerry to Princess Diana, and RoseMarie Terenzio set up the meeting between Kennedy and Diana. In the book JFK JR: An Intimate Oral Biography, written by Terenzio and PEOPLE editor-at-large Liz McNeil, Jephson said about the meet-up, “It was never made public, so that made it quite fun, actually. Diana wanted it to be discreet because it had all the makings of a great gossip story, didn’t it? World’s most eligible bachelor, wasn’t he at the time? And she had just gotten unmarried or was in the process of getting unmarried. It would’ve been a rather intriguing thing to dream about. She didn’t want that, but she was curious to meet him. Partly, I think because Sarah Ferguson had the hots for him and Diana wanted to, I think, do one up on her.”

The excerpt said that the Duchess of York nicknamed JFK. Jr by the code name of “Number Nine,” indicative of “his place in the order of her lovers.” Lownie writes that Fergie spent hours searching magazines for articles about the son of the late President John F. Kennedy, cut out photos of him in his swimsuit and debated with her friends what aspects of her personality he would like.

“A close confidante revealed: ‘She’ll suddenly ask, “Do you think Ken will mind that I don’t like such and such a thing?” It’s incredibly real to her, like a schoolgirl crush. She spends hours talking about him. The fact that she’s never even met him doesn’t seem to matter at all,’ ” Lownie writes.

The Duchess of York’s other crushes allegedly included Kevin Costner, Tiger Woods and George Clooney, according to the book.

Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York also analyzes the Duchess of York’s legendary spending in intense detail, with Queen Elizabeth paying her debts on “several” occasions, palace officials said in January 1996.

This reportedly included a bill from her bank, Coutts, demanding that she pay about $663,000 within two weeks, before the Queen stopped getting involved.

Lownie cites a newspaper article by Fergie’s former financial adviser and rumored lover, John Bryan, who said that her $1.14 million annual expenditure included almost $400,000 on staff, almost $200,000 on gifts, $66,000 on parties, another $200,000 on travel and $132,000 on clothes — including a true spending spree at Bloomingdale’s, where $33,000 was dropped in an hour.

At the same time, the logistics behind some of the Duchess of York’s charitable commitments were criticized. Her American charity, Chances for Children, did not have to pay tax as a nonprofit, and its office on Sixth Avenue was paid for by US News & World Report. There were also “concerns” that she used the space as a private office.

The excerpt alleged that Fergie was able to make a dent in her debts around 1997, paying it down with the advance from her memoirs, money from her deal with WeightWatchers, six interviews with Paris Match and almost $400,000 for two children’s books.

The balance apparently ebbed and flowed, though, and Lownie alleged that it later emerged that Fergie owed between about $2.6 million and $5.3 million to 200 creditors.

The Duchess of York and Prince Andrew are parents to daughters Princess Beatrice, 36, and Princess Eugenie, 35, and she previously described herself as the dedicated breadwinner of her family.

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“I’m a separated mother of two, largely responsible for the finances of my family. It really bugs me when I read that I’m a millionairess through my Budgie [children’s] books. It’s rubbish,” Fergie reportedly said at a National Press Club Event in 1994.

Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York will be published on Aug. 14. 

Read the original article on People