By Katharine Barney
The Evening Standard
SURREY, England — The Duchess of York is facing a £20,000 clean-up bill after leaving a scented candle alight in her lavatory.
The alarm was raised by a housekeeper who smelt smoke after Sarah Ferguson, 48, left her Surrey home so that she could attend a business meeting in London yesterday.
The flames were put out by ten firefighters but caused fire and smoke damage to the bathroom furnishings at Dolphin House, the duchess’s country home in Englefield Green.
It is not thought the duchess’s children Beatrice, 19, and Eugenie, 17, were staying at the house at the time of the fire.
The house is situated less than a mile from her former husband Prince Andrew’s home at Royal Lodge, Windsor.
A fire brigade officer said: “The duchess may not feel that lucky right now but this fire could have been very much worse.
“If the housekeeper had not been there to react so quickly it could have destroyed much more than a bathroom suite.”
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