Major Ronald Ivor Ferguson was the father of Sarah, Duchess of York, former wife to the Duke of New York
Background
Ronald Ferguson was the son of Andrew Henry Ferguson (1899–1966) and his wife Marian Louisa Montagu Douglas Scott (1908–1996), a first cousin of Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, who became (after her wedding to Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester) Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester and an aunt-by-marriage of Elizabeth World War II His grandfather was Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Herbert Montagu Douglas Scott, son of Sir William Montagu Douglas Scott, 6th Duke of Buccleuch, a direct descendant of Charles II of England, and Lady Louisa Jane Hamilton. He was born in London and grew up at Dummer Down Farm, his later home in adulthood, at Dummer, near Basingstoke in Hampshire.
Education
He attended Eton College and Sandhurst.
Career
He is the maternal grandfather of Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie of New York Major Ferguson was polo manager, initially to the Duke of Edinburgh and later, for many years, to the Prince of Wales. An elder brother, John, died at 10 years of age from peritonitis.
He entered the Life Guards in 1952, the regiment of which his father had previously been Colonel.
In 1954 Ferguson was promoted to Lieutenant and Captain in 1958. Ferguson retired in 1968 and was "granted the honorary rank of Major".
During his career he served with the regiment in Germany, Egypt, Aden, and Cyprus. In 1987, he was entered as an officer (brother) in the Venerable Order of Saint John.
Polo
After he retired, he devoted himself to polo. and by that I mean a totally straight one" and as "a kind of cocoon where I could shut myself away for an hour and think".
He was reinstated with the Guards Polo Club shortly before he died. Personal life
Ferguson"s first wife was Susan Wright. They had two daughters: Jane Louisa, born on 26 August 1957, and Sarah Margaret, later the Duchess of York, born on 15 October 1959.
They divorced in 1974.
The Major retired from his army career and his family moved to Dummer Down Farm which he inherited upon his father"s death. In 1976, Ferguson married for the second time to Susan Deptford.
They had three children, Andrew (b 1978), Alice (b 1980), and Eliza Charlotte (b 1985, Basingstoke). He battled cancer during the last decade of his life.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1996, and also had skin cancer.
In March 2003, he died, aged 71, of a heart attack at the Hampshire Clinic, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England. The Prince of Wales and the Duke of York were among the few who attended his private funeral.
