Andrew Lownie has defended his allegation that Sarah Ferguson had a years-long “friends with benefits” relationship with disgraced rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
The doubling down comes after an extract from a new edition of Lownie’s book, Entitled, on Ferguson and her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, was published in the Daily Mail.
After a source close to the former Duchess of York dismissed the claims, the royal author spoke out.
Lownie told The Times, “I stand by it. It’s fully sourced with former employees of P Diddy and Sarah Ferguson.”
In the serialised extract, the writer claimed that Combs had bragged to colleagues about his sexual relationship with Ferguson.
Another associate of the rapper claimed the pair first met at a New York party hosted by Ghislaine Maxwell in 2002, before embarking on what was described as a “secret relationship” beginning in 2004.
The revised biography also reportedly claims that Ferguson and Combs met in luxury hotels across Europe and Africa, including one venue costing $114,000 (£50,000) a night.
A photograph said to show the pair together at a Formula One Grand Prix in France has also circulated alongside the allegations.
Soon after the claims were printed, a source said to be close to Ferguson strongly denied the allegations.
The insider told The Sun, “This is fabricated nonsense, blatantly untrue and yet another false allegation from Andrew Lownie.”
Combs, whose legal troubles have dominated headlines over the past year, is currently serving a prison sentence after being convicted of transporting people across state lines for prostitution.
