The Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson speaks during a memorial service for Lisa Marie Presley, in Memphis on January 22, 2023. John Amis/AP/Shutterstock
Forever sisters. Sarah Ferguson paid tribute to her longtime friend Lisa Marie Presley at her Sunday, January 22, funeral.
“I stand here with great honor because we called each other ‘sissy’ and I’ve been with you all for all your lives really,” the Duchess of York, 63, said during the service, which was held in front of Graceland, the Memphis, Tennessee, estate once owned by the late singer’s father, Elvis Presley.
Ferguson continued: “Sissy, this is for you with affection. My late mother-in-law [Queen Elizabeth II, who died in September 2022] used to say that ‘Nothing [that] can be said can begin to take away the anguish and the pain of these moments because grief is the price we pay for love.’ And how right she was.”
Lisa Marie Presley Damian Dovarganes/AP/Shutterstock
Ferguson — who first met the Tennessee native when she and ex-husband Michael Lockwood lived in England — went on to pay her respects to Lisa Marie’s loved ones in her eulogy.
“We look at Priscilla [Presley] as a mother to Lisa Marie, we look at Lisa Marie and say, ‘You lost a son,’” she said on Sunday, referring to Benjamin Keough, who died by suicide in 2020. “Mothers losing children — there are no words for it. So today we talk about action. Action is the way we can go forward, we can light the flame. So for Riley, for Harper and Finley and the entire family, we march forward in support of you. All of us are with you. If you just put out your hand, we will be there. I will definitely be there.”
The “Storm & Grace” singer died on January 12 at the age of 54 after suffering cardiac arrest. Lisa Marie is survived by mother Priscilla, 77, and her three daughters: Riley Keough, whom she shared with ex Danny Keough, and twins Harper and Finley, whom she coparented with Lockwood.
The duchess, who traveled from London for the Sunday service, has since been candid about what she believes is Lisa Marie’s cause of death. (An official cause of death for Lisa Marie has not been confirmed.)
“I think she’s with Ben now,” Ferguson told Page Six on Saturday, January 21, noting she thinks her friend died of a broken heart.
Shortly after news broke of Lisa Marie’s passing, the Her Heart for a Compass author penned a heartbreaking tribute via Instagram.
“I say hello to you everyday and I love you my sissy and I will continue to say hello to you everyday,” Ferguson wrote at the time, sharing a throwback photo of the two friends. “You were my sissy, an amazing mother to Ben, Riley, Harper and Finley and a superbly loving daughter to Priscilla. You have been my devoted friend for many years, and I am here for your family to support and love them. I am deeply saddened my sissy, you are in my heart.”