Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has lost patronage from five charities following the emergence of an email in which she referred to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a “supreme friend.” The revelation sparked significant backlash over her ties to Epstein, who pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state prostitution charge in Florida.
The controversy intensified on Monday when several charities announced they had severed ties with the Duchess. The Guardian reported that Ferguson’s apology to Epstein came after an interview published in the Evening Standard in March 2011. In that interview, she admitted to making a “terrible, terrible error of judgment” by accepting £15,000 from Epstein to pay off her debts, emphasizing, “I abhor paedophilia.”
According to The Sun, Ferguson, the ex-wife of King Charles’s brother Prince Andrew, sent the apology email to Epstein in 2011, just weeks after stating in an interview that she would never contact him again. In the email, she described Epstein as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend.”
The Telegraph reported that James Henderson, Ferguson’s spokesperson at the time, explained that the email was sent following a “really menacing and nasty” phone call from Epstein. Henderson described Epstein’s voice during the call as having a “Hannibal Lecter-type” quality, recalling, “People don’t understand how terrible Epstein was. I can remember everything about that call. It was chilling.”
He further detailed the threatening nature of the call: “He said he would destroy the York family and he was quite clear on that. He said he would destroy me. He wasn’t shouting. He had a Hannibal Lecter-type voice. It was very cold and calm and really menacing and nasty.”
Henderson added that Ferguson was under immense pressure to protect her family, noting, “I am sure there were legal actions. And this was long before the Duke’s life had been ruined by his association with Epstein. It was 14 years ago and everyone will do what they have to do to protect their family. Her family and children will always come first for her.”
CNN reported that Ferguson’s former spokesperson declined to comment on the charities’ decisions but had previously explained that she sent the email fearing a possible defamation lawsuit from Epstein.
On Monday, five charities announced that the Duchess could no longer serve as a patron. Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, expressed their dismay: “We were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of York’s, correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. She was a patron but, in 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.”
This scandal follows the high-profile fallout for Prince Andrew. In 2022, he was stripped of most of his titles and removed from royal duties due to his connections to Epstein. Subsequently, firms and charities also distanced themselves from him, as reported by CNN.
https://www.news18.com/world/five-charities-cuts-off-ties-with-britains-duchess-of-york-over-links-with-epstein-ws-l-9592562.html
