Allies of Sarah Ferguson are trying to limit the damage to her reputation from a leaked email in which she called the convicted sex offender her “supreme friend” and apologised for denouncing him.
Epstein allegedly insisted that his conviction for procuring someone under 18 for prostitution, and complaints from girls as young as 14, did not conform to medical definitions of paedophilia, which referred to an attraction to younger, pre-pubescents.
The revelation comes as Fergie, 65, is expected to lose lucrative book deals and other work after being dumped as patron or ambassador for seven charities and the furore over her private expression of friendship for Epstein, following his conviction.
Inside the Royal Household there is thought to be exasperation that, despite courtiers’ best efforts to isolate the Yorks’ toxic image from those of working royals, the monarchy risks lasting reputational damage from the stream of lurid revelations about the couple’s friendship with Epstein.
Epstein’s history of networking with rich and powerful people has already ended the careers of Prince Andrew, Lord Mandelson, and threatens those of others including the US President, Donald Trump.
Millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the TV broadcast of their royal wedding in 1986.
His alleged argument that he was not a paedophile would have almost certainly been rejected at any trial. It may still have been enough to intimidate some people into withdrawing allegations rather than face a costly court case, according to legal experts.
Mark Stephens, an expert in media law at the law firm Howard Kennedy, said Fergie might have worried about having to find as much as £1m for a court case that would pit her against Epstein in public, but he added that she had overdone her apology.
In July last year a Florida judge, Luis Delgado, described Epstein in a court order as “the most infamous paedophile in American history”.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York and the Duchess of York attend the funeral of Katharine, Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral earlier this month (Photo: Mark Cuthbert/Getty)
Latest twist in the scandal
The latest twist in the Epstein scandal has come after a week in which the King and his family received widespread praise for their role in helping to charm Donald Trump during a state visit at Windsor Castle.
square JENNIE BOND This is the end of Fergie – and not a moment too soon
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In 2010 Epstein lent Fergie money – she has since apologised for accepting £15,000 – to help pay off her debts but when it emerged a year later, she vowed to repay the cash and have nothing more to do with him, saying: “I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgement on my behalf.”
“You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” she wrote, insisting she had been advised to condemn him publicly to avoid hurting herself and Andrew, and claimed she had never called him a paedophile.
Palace officials fear further damaging details about the Yorks and Epstein will emerge from court cases in the US – and from new witnesses who have come forward following a new biography of the Yorks, by Andrew Lownie. “New evidence is coming to light all the time. There’s more to come,” the author claimed.
Fergie attends the Christmas Morning Service at Sandringham Church in 2023 (Photo: Samir Hussein/Getty)Fergie’s future
The publishers have refused to comment but one senior industry insider predicted that Fergie’s writing career was over because of the controversy. They said it was standard practice for publishers to quietly drop risky authors who brought in modest revenue by postponing book launch dates and letting their contracts run out.
It is unclear how important the Duchess’s income is to Andrew, who appears to have no regular source of earnings. There has been speculation that her loss of income might force them to move out of Royal Lodge, the 30-room mansion they share in Windsor. But the Duke is thought to have inherited millions in a trust fund set up by his mother, the late Queen, and that may allow them to stay.
His father Prince Philip banished Fergie from most royal gatherings after their 1996 divorce and supposedly could not bear to be in the same room as her. But Queen Elizabeth is thought to have kept up contact.
But he is understood to want them to stay away from Sandringham at Christmas and avoid the cameras if they attend other gatherings, particularly after the pair appeared to embarrass the family at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral on September 16 by laughing and joking in front of the cameras.
Earlier this summer, King Charles III kisses the hand of Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, during day four of Royal Ascot in June 2025 (Photo: Karwai Tang/Getty)However, the royal biographer Ingrid Seward, editor-in-chief of Majesty magazine, believes Andrew and Fergie will have to stay away from high-profile family gatherings such as Sandringham at Christmas, where the royals walk to church in front of the cameras. Last year they stayed away at Christmas amid controversy over Andrew’s links to an alleged Chinese spy.
“The King has always been weak about this, just as the (late) Queen was but they can’t go to Sandringham,” she said. “I don’t think the King will banish them but they will just realise that it’s not a good idea for them to go and they will volunteer to stay away.”
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