By Debbie McGoldrick

Sarah Ferguson, the ex-British royal who still likes to be called the Duchess of York, was in counties Sligo and Cork last week doing her bit for charity.

Naturally, she waxed poetic about the Irish. “I have a great affinity with Ireland, it is like a second home to me. It always feels like I’m coming home when I come here,” she told the Sligo Weekender newspaper.

“I love Ireland. I feel I have a great connection here, that it’s in my DNA.”

Apparently her late mother came from Co. Wicklow, and Fergie took time out of her schedule recently to do some family research there. She even says she wants to be buried in Wicklow, such is the affinity she feels for the place.

“I think it’s important to go back to the core values in life whenever you go off the path a bit and as you know I went off the path quite a while,” she said.

“I feel strongly that what got me back on the path was going back to Powerscourt where mum was brought up. That’s probably where my red hair comes from.

“I used to jump only little fences but the Irish people gave me back my life. I had gone back to core values and that’s why I feel so comfortable in Ireland. The Irish accept Sarah as Sarah,” she added.

The charity she was on hand to support during her day in Ireland, the Daisychain Foundation, helps families who are living with disability.