Duchess

"One can never be too rich or too thin," the late Duchess of Windsor had needlepointed onto a pillow. She might well have added the caveat: "Nor can one have too many jewels. " To be sure, the exceedingly rich, thin, chic duchess, whose obsessive interest in fashion reportedly infuriated the British royal family, possessed a spectacular collection of jewels, most of them given to her by her husband, the Duke of Windsor. Now, more than half a century after the duke - then King Edward VIII of England - abdicated his throne to marry Wallis Warfield Spencer Simpson, "the woman I love," the duchess' magnificent collection of diamonds, rubies, sapphires and other precious gems will be sold by Sotheby's in Geneva on April 2 and 3. Before the sale, the jewels will be exhibited for the first time to the public March 17-22 at Sotheby's New York galleries.

Temple University's Conwell Dance Theater was transformed into dreamy cinematic cabaret last night in It Takes Two to Tango: I'm Nothing Without You, an hour-long dance about love and obsession. Choreographed by Paule Turner, Duchess (a title he's bestowed on himself), It Takes Two to Tango was Turner's ambitious, lyrical master's of fine arts thesis. Turner, who is also a well-known and admired dancer around town, has a fine-tuned post-modern theatrical sense. He transformed Conwell's standard black box even before the curtain went up by having performers already onstage as viewers entered the theater.

Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson said Sunday that she was "very sorry" for her "lapse of judgment" after she was recorded apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew in return for 500,000 pounds ($724,000). The duchess said in a statement that she had financial problems. "I very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused," she said. On a video posted on the tabloid News of the World's website, Ferguson is heard to say "500,000 pounds when you can, to me, open doors.

The Duchess of York returned to London yesterday after a six-week Australian holiday, clutching a fluffy toy koala, presumably for her daughter, Princess Beatrice, who has not seen her mother for half her life. The duchess flashed smiles at waiting photographers at Heathrow Airport but said nothing. She hopped into a waiting Jaguar and drove it off. British newspapers reported that while Down Under, Sarah comforted her sister Jane, whose marriage to Australian farmer Alex Makim is apparently on the rocks.

Sarah, the Duchess of York returned to Britain yesterday after a night of Broadway glitter that ended when her security men pounced on a man who tried to attack her with a six-foot flagpole. The attack occurred about 11:15 p.m. Thursday outside the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in Manhattan, as the duchess returned from a performance of The Phantom of the Opera. A man identified as Michael Shanley, 22, allegedly bolted from a group of about 25 people protesting British rule of Northern Ireland and shouted, "Murderer!

"The Duchess" reminds us that non-traditional families are nothing new, certainly not to weirdo nobility across the pond. It was in the late 1700s that England's Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), father of three girls (two by his wife) and desperate for a male heir, brought in a de facto spouse for backup. I gotta say, I'm with the Duke on this one. You can't have too many heir-providing options, and while his official wife (Keira Knightly) was the toast of London, a free-thinking human-rights activist and leading fashion icon, she was a couple va-va's short of a voom.

NEW YORK (AP) - Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson is coming to the Oprah Winfrey Network next year. The network announced yesterday that Ferguson will star in a six-part reality series called "Finding Sarah. " On the series, Ferguson plans to open up about her lifelong battles with weight, relationships and finances as she shares with viewers her struggle to rebuild her life. "Finding Sarah" is scheduled to premiere in early 2011. The cable network will launch on Jan. 1. Its full name is OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Today, after two years of separation, the Duchess of York is legally free to get a no-hassle divorce from Prince Andrew. But a London TV interview revealed yesterday that she doesn't seem so inclined. When the interviewer addressed her as Sarah Ferguson, Fergie sharply corrected: "I'm married. I'm the Duchess of York. " She also wore her ruby engagement and gold wedding rings. The duchess indicated that while a reconciliation wasn't in the cards, the couple wanted to keep a close association because of their daughters, Beatrice, 5, and Eugenie, who turned 4 Wednesday.

Eugene Shank is amused when the occasional visitor asks him to point out a corner of his expansive back yard. Back in the '40s, a historical marker stood there. Now, the spot's most remarkable aspect is a small shrub Shank has planted. In Shank's back yard once stood the house where Wallis Warfield was born in 1896 during her parents' summer vacation. Forty years later, Life magazine would call her "Mrs. Simpson of Blue Ridge Summit," and juxtapose a photo of the ramshackle two-story cottage with one of Buckingham Palace, which King Edward VIII left to marry Simpson, the woman he loved.

THE KILLING. 10 p.m. Sunday, AMC. I NO LONGER much care who killed Rosie Larsen. There - I've said it. For those who've watched AMC's "The Killing," which has just two episodes to go before we presumably learn whodunit, not caring (much) makes me: a) an idiot, incapable of appreciating complex theories regarding potential suspects; b) impatient with prolonged displays of grief (a position advanced by Meghan O'Rourke in a recent piece for Slate ); or c) a person who doesn't like being jerked around.

NEW YORK (AP) - Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson is coming to the Oprah Winfrey Network next year. The network announced yesterday that Ferguson will star in a six-part reality series called "Finding Sarah. " On the series, Ferguson plans to open up about her lifelong battles with weight, relationships and finances as she shares with viewers her struggle to rebuild her life. "Finding Sarah" is scheduled to premiere in early 2011. The cable network will launch on Jan. 1. Its full name is OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network.

Emma Thompson (of the upcoming "Nanny McPhee Returns") is bringing a new sense and sensibility to her rewrite of "My Fair Lady," which, in interviews with the Hollywood Reporter and Variety , she described as being about Eliza being "sold into sexual slavery" by her father. That jaunty "Get Me to the Church on Time" dude? She added: "I suppose my cheekiness is in saying: 'This is a very serious story about the usage of women at a particular time in our history.

As a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson dropped a lot of pounds. But that number didn't compare to the number of pounds she requested others to drop to gain access to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew. Ferguson said yesterday she was "very sorry" after News of the World reported she was offering to sell access to Andrew for $724,000 - that's 500,000 pounds. Just imagine what he'd be worth if they were still married. The duchess said in a statement that she had financial problems, but "that is no excuse for a serious lapse in judgment and I am very sorry that this has happened.

Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson said Sunday that she was "very sorry" for her "lapse of judgment" after she was recorded apparently offering to sell access to her ex-husband Prince Andrew in return for 500,000 pounds ($724,000). The duchess said in a statement that she had financial problems. "I very deeply regret the situation and the embarrassment caused," she said. On a video posted on the tabloid News of the World's website, Ferguson is heard to say "500,000 pounds when you can, to me, open doors.

"I'm the luckiest woman you'll ever meet!" exclaims Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. "I married a prince, I have the two loveliest daughters, and now I'm a Hollywood producer. " Yesterday, the woman the tabloids dubbed Fergie held casual court in Philadelphia at the Four Seasons, dishing about herself and Young Victoria, the sparkling biopic of a certain "steadfast and courageous" ancestor of her daughters. Fifteen years ago, the robust redhead initiated the film about the monarch and the teenager who, at 18, ascended to England's throne and then ruled her empire for 63 years, longer than any other British monarch.

Ravishing as a Gainsborough portrait, rapt by its subject's real estate, high hair and higher style, The Duchess chronicles a momentous decade in the life of 18th-century fashion plate and political hostess Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Like her celebrated descendant, Princess Diana, the glittering duchess was beloved by everyone except a glum spouse who preferred the company of loyal dogs and a submissive mistress to that of his independent-minded celebrity wife. Any resemblance between the dour duke and a certain present-day prince is strictly intentional.

"The Duchess" reminds us that non-traditional families are nothing new, certainly not to weirdo nobility across the pond. It was in the late 1700s that England's Duke of Devonshire (Ralph Fiennes), father of three girls (two by his wife) and desperate for a male heir, brought in a de facto spouse for backup. I gotta say, I'm with the Duke on this one. You can't have too many heir-providing options, and while his official wife (Keira Knightly) was the toast of London, a free-thinking human-rights activist and leading fashion icon, she was a couple va-va's short of a voom.

In pirate movies - and you may have caught Keira Knightley in a few - the hero or heroine swats away the meddlesome hordes with jaunty strokes of a sword. Knightley, the 23-year-old Brit who's been charming audiences since she big-splashed onto screens as the plucky tomboy of 2002's Bend It Like Beckham, has developed a kind of conversational equivalent to the swashbuckler sweep. Ask her too obvious a question, or one that's been posed too often, and she simply bats it away with a smile.

First and foremost Sarah Ferguson is a mother. The rest of us may know her as the red-headed divorced wife of a prince with a weight problem she turned into a career with Weight Watchers. But yesterday the Duchess of York, now also an author, charity fund-raiser, movie producer, and occasional TV hostess, dropped those roles to comfort parents and children at the oncology unit of St. Christopher's Hospital for Children. The duchess, who was in town as the Global Ambassador for the Ronald McDonald Charities, visited St. Christopher's to kickoff a campaign to raise $7.2 million to build and operate a 15-room, three-story Ronald McDonald House for families of children treated at the North Philadelphia hospital.