Diana and Sarah Ferguson would have 'thrown granny parties' with bouncy castles
Watch: Duchess says her historical romance heroine is ‘a very rebellious lady’
Sarah Ferguson and Princess Diana would have been "throwing granny parties" and jumping on the bouncy castle if the princess were still alive, the Duchess of York has said.
Ferguson, whose first adult novel was released on Tuesday, has imagined how her life could have turned out had Diana not been killed in a car crash in Paris in 1997.
The two women, who were cousins, were very close through their marriages to the princes, but were not on speaking terms in the last year of Diana's life.
Ferguson spoke to Christine Bleakley on ITV's Lorraine on Tuesday about the amount of attention she and Diana received from the press in the 1980s and 1990s.
Read more: How Sarah Ferguson has led with her heart - like her 'rebellious' heroine
She said: "I think Diana and I went through enormous things, without social media, in the 80s... we really went through a lot.
"It was really, really, very, very tough. And if she was here today I know that she would just be completely like an eagle, she would fly high and be so proud of her two sons and their wonderful wives, who have delivered amazing children."
Ferguson added: "And I think that if she was here she’d beat me to the bouncy castle because she always used to beat me in the running races."
She also told Bella magazine: "Diana and I had the same complete love for children. We both loved nothing more than to put a smile on a child’s face.
If she were alive, Ferguson added, "we’d be having granny parties together and having a great time. I wonder whether there would be room for the kids to get onto the bouncy castle, as she and I would be the first on."
Read more: Sarah Ferguson defends Eugenie's husband over boat trip with topless models
Diana would have been grandmother to five now, as Prince William has three children with Kate, and Prince Harry has two with Meghan Markle.
Ferguson became a grandmother for the first time in February as Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank welcomed August, and her other daughter Beatrice is also pregnant with her first child.
Watch: I wanted to be an Olympic showjumper: Sarah Ferguson 'never dreamt' of being royalty
