Lorraine Kelly: It could have been so different for Sarah Ferguson

She’s her own worst enemy and has made many mistakes, but at least she admits her flaws.

Sarah’s back in the news this week after announcing she’s leaving the UK to live in Switzerland.

Inevitably dubbed Fergie, she burst into the Royal Family back in the ’80s like a hyper-active red setter puppy dog and all she ever wanted was to be liked.

Sadly over the years she has pushed the self-destruct button once too often and has become a figure of fun and even ridicule.

When she married Prince Andrew in 1986, she had the misfortune to be compared to the elegant Princess Diana.

There were unkind remarks about her weight, her looks and her lack of decorum.

I think that’s when I began to feel rather sorry for her, especially when snooty palace courtiers dubbed her “vulgar”.

We all watched in horror as she lurched from scandal to crisis. Her marriage collapsed, she run up huge debts while lurid stories were splashed all over the front pages.

Even though she was mother of the Queen’s two granddaughters, Sarah was ostracised by the Royal Family and she and Andrew divorced in 1996.

I first met her not long afterwards and was struck by how needy she was for affection.

I do believe her heart is in the right place – she genuinely wants to help people, but never quite gets it right.

For all his many faults, Prince Andrew has stuck by her, perhaps out of guilt or genuine affection, but she continues to declare him her best friend.

The two of them have recently bought a multi-million pound Swiss chalet together, which has raised eyebrows and had insiders questioning how they managed to find the cash for such a big deal.

To be fair Sarah did manage to clear her debts, but only by advertising and endorsing everything from slimming clubs to cooking gadgets in the USA.

They love her in America where her Royal connections still count for something and she even hosted her own chat show over there, although it didn’t last long.

She’s made far too many gaffes to be held in any affection by the British public and sadly her two daughters appear to be heading down the same route.

They are only ever in the papers when they are photographed on one of their many holidays and, like their dad, are in danger of becoming extremely unpopular.

Surely Sarah can see what is happening and stop her girls making the same sorts of mistakes that she did?

I’m sure she will enjoy the high life in Switzerland, but deep down there has to be part of her that would have loved to have stayed married to Andrew and to have been a proper part of the Royal Family.

She could have still been held in high regard and made a proper contribution to many more charities and organisations.

If she had been less thoughtless and headstrong, and had proper support from her husband and in-laws from the beginning, things could have turned out so very differently.