Sarah Ferguson said Princess Diana would be 'proud' of Prince Harry for 'standing tall' after he and Meghan Markle left royal life

• Sarah Ferguson appeared on the Australian breakfast radio show "Kyle & Jackie O" on Tuesday.
• She said she thinks Princess Diana would have been "proud" of Prince Harry's step back from royal life.
• Prince Harry and Meghan Markle stepped back from their royal duties in January 2020.

Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, said that her late sister-in-law Princess Diana would have been "proud" of Prince Harry after he and Meghan Markle stepped back from royal life in 2020.

On Tuesday, the Duchess of York appeared on the Australian breakfast radio show "Kyle & Jackie O" to speak about her new novel, "Her Heart for a Compass: A Novel." During the interview, Jackie Henderson asked Ferguson how she thinks the late Princess of Wales might have felt about Prince Harry and Markle stepping back from royal duties.

"What I think she would have been is very proud of her boys standing tall and firm, and they're very like her, and I think she would be proud," Ferguson said.

"I think Diana would be proud of her sons, and they're exceptional boys with exceptional wives and fabulous children. So I think she would be going, 'yes!'" Ferguson added. "Life is tough enough. We don't need to be judging others. We need to be open to seeing life in another way."

Ferguson said in an interview with People in July that she met Diana as a teenager and they were "best friends." Ferguson married Prince Charles' younger brother, Prince Andrew, turning the two friends into family.

"She taught me so much of public life," Ferguson told People. "She was so brave. We used to have the most incredible time together."

There was speculation that tension sprouted between the two royals, and Ferguson told Harper's Bazaar in 2007 that the two hadn't spoken in the year leading up to Diana's death. Ferguson swatted down rumors they were feuding before Diana's death, saying the Princess of Wales promised they "would always be together."

Harry and Markle announced in January 2020 that they would formally step back from their duties as working members of the royal family. The couple later relocated to Canada before settling down in California with their son, Archie. They welcomed a baby girl named Lilibet in June 2021.

In March, Harry and Markle made headlines when they appeared in a bombshell interview with Oprah Winfrey. The two revealed many claims about the royal family.

The couple said racism from British tabloids was a "large part" of why the couple left the UK - and said the royal family never acknowledged the racist coverage of Markle. They also claimed that an unamed member of the royal family had "concerns and conversations about how dark" Archie's skin would be. Winfrey later said Prince Harry told her neither Prince Philip nor the Queen made the comments.

Harry told Winfrey that he thought his mother would likely be happy for the couple and their exit from the royal family, saying: "I think she would feel very angry with how this has panned out, and very sad. But, ultimately, all she'd ever want is for us to be happy."