Charities cut ties with the UK’s Duchess of York over Epstein email

Charities Cut Ties with Duchess of York Over Reported Epstein Email

LONDON (Reuters) — Several charities announced on Monday that they had severed ties with Sarah Ferguson, Britain’s Duchess of York, following reports that she once described the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a “supreme friend” in an email.

According to the Sun on Sunday, Ferguson, 65, the ex-wife of King Charles’ brother Prince Andrew, sent the message to Epstein in 2011—just weeks after publicly vowing never to contact him again.

Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor in Florida and was required to register as a sex offender.

The Sun reported that Ferguson, widely known as “Fergie,” wrote to Epstein apologizing for negative comments she had made, while praising him as a loyal friend to her and her family.

Her spokesperson declined to comment on the latest fallout, but previously said she wrote the email in an effort to defuse a potential defamation lawsuit.

By Monday, at least five charities said they had dropped her as a patron.

“We were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of York’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein,” Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, founders of the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said in a statement. “She was a patron, but in light of the recent revelations, it would be inappropriate for her to continue to be associated with the charity.”

The controversy has renewed scrutiny of Ferguson’s past links to Epstein, whose connections also destroyed the public standing of her former husband, Prince Andrew.

In 2022, Andrew was stripped of most of his titles and barred from royal duties over his friendship with Epstein, as businesses and charities alike distanced themselves from him.