Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, had breast cancer surgery

Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York and ex-wife of Prince Andrew, the disgraced son of Queen Elizabeth II, underwent a single mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer, she said during an episode of her podcast released Monday.

She was diagnosed after a routine mammogram, she said on the episode of “Tea Talks With the Duchess & Sarah.” a new weekly podcast which she organizes with the entrepreneur Sarah Thomson. Ms Ferguson did not say when the surgery took place, but noted that the podcast was recorded the day before. According to the podcast, Ms. Ferguson showed no symptoms and found no lump.

“It’s very important that I talk about it,” said Ms Ferguson, 63, noting that both her father and stepfather died of cancer.

“I’m telling people because I want everyone who listens to this podcast to be monitored,” she said.

The National Health Service of Great Britain offers routine mammograms for women over the age of 50. In the United States, the US Preventive Services Task Force, which issues guidelines on preventive care, recommended this year that all women begin routine breast cancer screening at age 40. The previous recommendation had been 50.

Ms Ferguson’s surgery was successful and her prognosis is good, a spokesman said The associated press. Ms. Ferguson was discharged from King Edward VII’s Hospital in London, which has long treated members of the British royal family.

Ms. Ferguson has long been involved with the Teenage Cancer Trust, an organization in the UK that aims to help young people with cancer. Ms Ferguson opened the trust’s first specialist cancer unit in a London hospital in 1990, according to the organisation’s website.

She said she was inspired to get involved with cancer charities after her stepfather died when he was 50.

Mrs Ferguson married Prince Andrew at Westminster Abbey in London in 1986. They divorced ten years later, but continue to live together in Windsor. They have two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, and three grandchildren.

Nicknamed ‘Fergie’, Ms. Ferguson has long been a fixture in British newspapers, which have covered her weight, her love life, her divorce and her exclusion from Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding in 2011. Since then, she has what can be described as a comeback made by publishing historical novels and a children’s book and starting her podcast.

She said on Monday’s episode that she was focused on getting fit and healthy after her recent diagnosis.

“There’s no choice, I can’t think of any other excuse,” she said. “I have to have this surgery and I have to be healthy and strong.”