Multiple British charities have severed ties with Sarah, the Duchess of York, after it emerged she sent an email to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein calling him her “supreme friend”.
Sarah Ferguson, who is the former wife of Prince Andrew and often referred to as Fergie, has been removed as a patron from Julia’s House, which operates children’s hospice facilities in England’s south-west, Natasha’s Allergy Research Foundation, the Children’s Literacy Charity, and Prevent Breast Cancer.
British media reported over the weekend that the Duchess had sent a letter to Epstein in 2011, in which she described the disgraced financier as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend”.
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The Duchess of York told Epstein she had been instructed to give a critical interview about him weeks earlier to protect “my career as a children’s book author and children’s philanthropist”.
In that interview, Ms Ferguson vowed to “never have anything to do with” Epstein again and called a £15,000 ($30,000) loan the billionaire had made to her “a gigantic error of judgement”.
In a statement provided to the ABC, Julia’s House said it had taken the step of discontinuing her patronage “following the information shared this weekend on the Duchess of York’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein”.
“Julia’s House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity,” the charity said.
“We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.”
The ABC has contacted the Duchess’s representatives for comment.
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse OBEs, founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, also said they were “disturbed” to read the correspondence and had similarly ended the Duchess’s patronage at their organisation.
“Sarah Ferguson has not been actively involved with the charity for some years,” they said in a written statement.
“She was a patron but, in the light of the recent revelations, we have taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue to be associated with the charity.”
The Children’s Literacy Charity also released a statement saying it was “inappropriate” for the Duchess of York to continue as a patron, and had asked her to step down.
Links between Jeffrey Epstein, right, Ghislaine Maxwell, and members of the elite have continued to make headlines years after his death in a Manhattan prison cell. (Supplied: US Attorney’s Office SDNY)
Epstein, a convicted sex offender, took his own life in 2019 while awaiting a sex trafficking trial.
The Duchess, who married Prince Andrew in 1986 before the couple divorced a decade later, has since reinvented herself as an author, media personality and charity patron.
She has remained close to Andrew — whose elder brother is King Charles III — and stayed loyal to him after his public downfall over his own Epstein links.
The pair, who still live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, west of London, had been making a tentative return to the public spotlight, both appearing at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral last week.
Following the reports about her 2011 email, a spokesperson for Ferguson said it was sent “in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats”.
Reports have said he had been considering a defamation lawsuit against her over the interview.
Epstein’s connections have continued to make headlines years after his death, with US President Donald Trump facing pressure to release Department of Justice documents into the case.
New documents released earlier this month also show Mr Trump’s alleged birthday note to the late sex offender.
And earlier this month, the UK’s ambassador to the US, Peter Mandelson, was fired by the UK prime minister after new revelations about his links with Epstein.
ABC/wires
