Sarah Ferguson has revealed she should have been in the Twin Towers on the day it was hit by terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001.
The royal, then aged 36, had an office on the 101st floor of the North Tower for her charity Chances for Children – her mascot for the charity, a small rag doll – was in that office.
She had been making her way to the World Trade Centre but was behind schedule after an interview had run late.
The Duchess of York took to Instagram Stories yesterday, to discuss how she should have been in the New York building at the time of the attacks, and to pay tribute to those who had lost their lives.
In the first of three stories, she shared a photograph of firefighters in the rubble. Sitting in the rubble a small doll can be seen – that is the Little Red Doll, the mascot for Sarah’s charity.
Superimposed on the image, text read: ‘My charity Chances for Children was located on the World Trade Centre N Tower.
‘I was meant to be there that morning 22 years ago but an interview ran late. The Little Red doll, the charity’s mascot, was found in the rubble. Today I am thinking of those who lost their lives.’
A second story featured a photograph of the doll, alongside the words: ‘The original Little Red is in the Ground Zero museum. We remember today and always. I want to send the families love and strength.’
Sarah has previously spoken about how close she was to being in the building when it was struck by planes.
She has described it as a near-death experience, saying that being so close to being caught up in the attack gave her a greater appreciation of life.
In 2018, the mother-of-two told Hello!: ‘I take every minute as a blessing, I really do, and I really work hard at it.
‘Because the minute you look too far forward, then you’re missing now. The minute you look back… you can’t go back. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.’
After the collapse of the Twin Towers, Little Red was found among the rubble by photographers and was initially mistaken for a child’s doll.
Speaking to the BBC in 2014, Sarah said: ‘And when it came on TV, I looked and saw Little Red and the presenter said, “Oh look there’s a child’s doll!” And I immediately called up the presenter and said please, don’t worry.
‘Because I was so worried they would think that a child was lost or buried in the rubble. So I said no, it’s not a child’s doll it’s Little Red and she is a symbol for Chances for Children.’
The original mascot is now part of the 9/11 memorial exhibit on Ground Zero, and Sarah has gone on to write a series of books based on the character.
