Fergie in fresh cash crisis after struggling to pay £6,500 debt to the Queen... for stamps
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The Duchess of York was facing fresh embarrassment today after running up a bill of £6,500 using the Queen’s special mail service.
The cash-strapped Duchess, 50, used the service to send out signed photographs and gifts to friends at home and abroad - and was warned she might be barred from using it further unless her debt was cleared.
The disclosure that the Duchess, who reportedly has debts of up to £2 million, failed to keep up payments is just the latest in a series of damaging revelations about her finances.
The Duchess, who still lives with her ex-husband Prince Andrew at Royal Lodge in Windsor, used the mail room at nearby Windsor Castle on ‘an almost daily basis’ to send out hundreds of letters, photographs and gifts.
Items mailed out included silver letter openers, money clips and cufflinks bought from jewellers including Patrick Mavros and Theo Fennell in London and Tom French in Ascot.
Staff from the Duchess’s office at Royal Lodge would make the three-mile journey by car to drop the packages at the ground-floor mail room, where they would be franked before being sent out.
The aide who had dropped off the mail would then be given a chit detailing the cost.
The Windsor Castle mail room is part of the Court Post Service, which handles all deliveries for the Royal Household.
The service, which dates back to the early 1900s, has its own fleet of vehicles and is run by Royal Mail staff seconded to Royal palaces.
One former employee, who asked not to be named, said individual deliveries could cost several hundred pounds.
They added that the invoices would be placed in one of two A4 files in the Duchess’s office which were ‘Bible thick’ with unpaid bills.
The staff member said: ‘The Duchess knows a load of people and she was always sending out cards and gifts for birthdays and special occasions. A couple of months ago it became clear there were problems with arrears on the account.
‘There were a number of phone calls to the office to chase up payment and staff who drop off the mail at Windsor Castle would be hassled about it. It was a case of, “Tell the office this is the last time unless the bill is cleared”.’