Fergie

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When the world's press published photographs of the Duchess of York in various compromising poses with her 'financial adviser', John Bryan, her royal career was finished. But the affair with Bryan was only just beginning. Bryan, a modestly well-off American who convinced people, Fergie among them, that he was vastly wealthy, and the Duchess, who wanted to shrug off the responsibilities of royalty but hoped to take the prestige and bankability of the Windsors with her, embarked upon a roller coaster ride of fast living which left Bryan bankrupt and Fergie with a world-famous overdraft. As Bryan's friend and business partner, Allan Starkie, was drawn into this relationship, first as a stand-in for Bryan who, for most of the four-year relationship, could not he seen publicly with the Duchess, then as her unpaid business manager and, eventually, to use her own words, as her 'dearest friend and brother'. As such he travelled the world with Fergie, becoming as much her friend as Bryan's. It is from this unique perspective that Starkie is able to give his account of one of the most destructive love affairs of the century. He came to realize that both Bryan and Fergie wanted the same things: fame, wealth and love, and each thought the other could open doors to these treasures.