Sarah Ferguson furiously silenced an audience at Cannes Film Festival as she thanked an artist for a portrait of the late Queen and lectured the crowd on the environment.
The Duchess of York, 64, lost her cool as the crowd continued to speak over her while she stood on stage at the 77th Cannes Film Festival gala auction last night and ordered them to be ‘quiet’ as she thanked Simon de Pury, who had created a portrait of the late monarch which was auctioned off for €475,000 in aid of charity.
The ex-wife of Prince Andrew, who donned a custom-made £13,202 Lilith Cocktail Dress, slammed the chatty audience for looking for ‘the next party’ rather than listening to her – before going on to apologise to young people about the state of the planet.
The clip, in which a frustrated Fergie orders the audience to ‘stop, stop, stop’ was posted on Instagram by German-American model Heidi Klum, who attended the event in aid of amFAR, a non-profit which promotes AIDS treatment and HIV prevention around the world.
Sarah – mother to Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie – can be heard saying: ‘Quiet! because the incredible person Simon de Pury has done an amazing job tonight, this is exceptional, and all I want to say to everyone in this room is stop, stop, stop.
Sarah Ferguson silenced the audience as she thanked Simon de Pury for ‘exceptional’ auctioned piece of late Queen at amFAR gala in Cannes on Thursday night
She continued: ‘Did you see I removed the microphone, because all of you are saying “I want to go, because where is the next party? What are we meant to be doing next?”
‘But what I want to say is why are we here? What is the future and why are we not making our planet better for the youth of tomorrow?
She added: ‘I am so sorry that we have completely destroyed your planet, but thanks to amFAR and these people with scientific brilliance…’before the clip ended
amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, is a non-profit which works to improve treatment of AIDS and HIV prevention around the world.
The mother-of-two looked incredible in a Cocktail Dress embellished with striking wispy sleeves and jewels made to look like raindrops.
The intricate floral design made for an elegant look, as she matched her pearl earrings to the stunning fabric.
She swept her signature red hair back from her face, and sported a gold bracelet emblazoned with the names of her daughter, Beatrice and Eugenie.
The appearance comes just a day after Princess Beatrice gushed about her ‘incredible’ mother as she visited school children in south London.
The Duchess of York , 64, appeared frustrated as the crowd chatted over her passionate speech at the 77th Cannes Film Festival gala auction
The royal, who donned a custom-made £13,202 Lilith Cocktail Dress, also apologised to the ‘youth of tomorrow’ for not ‘making the planet better’
Simon de Pury and Sarah spoke on stage during the amfAR Cannes Gala 30th edition presented by Chopard And Red Sea International Film
The mother-of-two looked incredible in a Cocktail Dress embellished with striking wispy sleeves and jewels made to look like raindrops
The Duchess couldn’t keep still for a moment as the cameras clicked on the red carpet
Elsewhere at the event, the Duchess of York met with Tiziana Rocca (left) and Jumana Al-Rashed (right)
The royal, 35, read to children in Reception and Year One during a surprise trip to West Thornton Primary School in Croydon, where she praised the Duchess of York and spoke about her extensive collection of children’s’ books.
‘I grew up with an incredible mum as a children’s author, so stories really created that sense of imagination,’ the mother-of-one said.
She joined the likes of Bella Thorne and Kelly Rowland, Heidi Klum and her daughter Leni at the star-studded gathering.
The Duchess revealed that she was diagnosed with skin cancer in January, just months after having a mastectomy for breast cancer.
The mother-of-two had a number of moles removed while undergoing breast reconstruction surgery last year, one of which was found to be malignant.
The duchess was described as being in ‘good spirits’ after the ‘distressing’ news, which was broken to her just days after Christmas.
Fergie donned a custom made dress costing more than £13,000 and embellished with sequins and beads to attend the event
The star-studded event was full of celebrity attendees – but the mother-of-two was less than impressed with her audience
The intricate floral design made for an elegant look, as she matched her pearl earrings to the stunning fabric
Sarah appeared in great spirits on the red carpet as she attended the amFAR gala at the 77th Cannes Film Festival
The Duchess of York, 64, pulled a series of very animated poses for her big night out
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, poses during a photocall for guest arrivals at the amfAR Gala Cannes 2024
A melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other areas of the body, mainly caused by exposure to ultraviolet light from the sun or sunbeds.
People with paler skin, a large number of moles and family history of skin cancer tend to be more at risk of developing this.
Friends at the time said Fergie is the ‘most resilient’ person they know and was already planning to pick up her television career again soon to encourage others to get themselves checked out.
One friend told the Mail that the duchess had been informed she would need ‘further investigations’ to make sure it has been caught at the early stages.
‘Everyone is hoping this is the case and the doctors are hopeful they have got it early, but melanoma is aggressive and they need to double check everything,’ they said.
They added of Sarah: ‘She’s very resilient and she does bounce back from things quite quickly but two diagnoses of cancer in six months, particularly when she thought she had just got over the breast cancer, is a lot for anyone to deal with and process.
Fergie laughed and joked with the cameramen as she attended the star-studded gala
Fergie looked dazzling in a white pearl dress embellished with jewels and striking wispy sleeves
She posed for snaps for Giorgio Veroni – an events manager married to Tamara Beckwith
The intricate floral design made for an elegant look, as she matched her pearl earrings to the stunning fabric
Friendly Fergie even shook hands with the photographers, standing out from the crowd
The Duchess Of York beamed as she arrived for the evening in a pretty pale pink beaded gown with matching caped detailing
‘You hope you’ve beaten it and then get something like this.
‘That’s why she wanted to take herself off to Austria for a couple of weeks, to get her head around everything. She’s back home now and the family have been very supportive.’
They also praised ‘her girls’ – Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie – who they said have been ‘fantastic over the last six months’.
‘They really have been brilliant over her breast cancer diagnosis. And they are already rallying around her,’ they said.
But in recent weeks, she’s been increasing her public appearances, even travelling as far as Samoa to visit women’s leadership groups last month.
Each year, the gala held in Cannes brings a slew of A-listers to the south of France in order to bring awareness and raise funds for the nonprofit.
Cannes is the world’s biggest film festival, first conceived in 1939 as an alternative to the then-fascist-influenced Venice Film Festival.
It has been held annually since 1946 except in 1948 and 1950, when it was cancelled due to lack of funds.
The festival is known for its carefully selected programme of films that have gone on to Oscar glory or launched the careers of directors like Quentin Tarantino.
The Cannes Film Festival officially kicked off on Tuesday night as celebrities walked the red carpet into the plush Grand Theatre Lumiere to honour Hollywood actor Meryl Streep before settling in to watch this year’s opening film, The Second Act.