Skip to main contentSkip to footer
Sarah Ferguson says granddaughter Sienna is 'controller of granny and grampa right now'© Getty Images

Sarah Ferguson says granddaughter Sienna is ‘controller of granny and grandpa right now’

The proud grandmother called Sienna Princess Beatrice’s “mini-me”


AUGUST 10, 2023 12:00 PM EDT

 Sarah Ferguson  was on babysitting duty while  Princess Beatrice  and  Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi  were away. The Duchess of York revealed during episode 10 of     Tea Talks with the Duchess & Sarah  that she had been watching her granddaughter Sienna Elizabeth Mapelli Mozzi.

“She’s been taking me off my homework all week,” Sarah said of her granddaughter on the podcast. “I’ve been waiting for today because literally every time I sit down to do anything because Beatrice and Edo were away, so Gigi’s in charge.”

She continued, “It’s really quite amusing. I wished for the time when Sienna would come in and say Gigi come and play, and now every minute of the day she wants to come and play.”

Sarah Ferguson watched Princess Beatrice and Edo's daughter while they were away© Getty Images
Sarah Ferguson watched Princess Beatrice and Edo’s daughter while they were away

Sarah called her granddaughter, who turns two in September, a “wonderful little girl” and revealed that when Sienna tells her “Gigi, choo choo,” that means not just playing with Thomas the Tank Engine, but “you are the lead train in Thomas the Tank Engine.”

The doting grandmother also shared that a part of a sitting room at Royal Lodge has been turned into a “train station” made of her daughters Eugenie and Beatrice’s old furniture. “She’s the station master. She’s the controller of granny and grandpa right now, I can safely tell you that,” Sarah said of Sienna.

The Her Heart for a Compass author, 63, admitted that when she follows her granddaughter “it looks just like Beatrice. She does the same thing as Beatrice.” Sarah said, “It’s taken me right the way back to following Beatrice around. Literally mini-me. I mean, off she goes hunting for ducks and walking through puddles and likes the rain on her head.”

Sarah and Prince Andrew welcomed another grandchild,  Ernest George Ronnie Brooksbank, in May. Princess Eugenie and her husband Jack Brooksbank are also parents to two-year-old son August Brooksbank.