Several charities have announced that they have cut ties with Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, after it emerged that she had described disgraced former financier Jeffrey Epstein as a “supreme friend” in a message to him in 2011.
A spokesperson for the duchess previously said that she made the comments in a 2011 apology email to Epstein to avoid legal action after she had linked him to paedophilia in an interview for the Evening Standard in March of that year.
Following the revelations, the Teenage Cancer Trust, where the duchess had been a patron, announced yesterday that it would be ending her patronage.
A spokesperson told Civil Society: “We have made the decision to end our relationship with the Duchess of York, and as of today she is no longer a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust. We have communicated this decision to the Duchess.
“We would like to thank the Duchess of York for her support.”
Julia’s House, a children’s hospice charity, has also said that it would be dropping Ferguson as a patron.
“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,” a spokesperson said.
“We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.”
Other charities to have ended the duchess’ patronage include the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Prevent Breast Cancer and the Children’s Literacy Charity.
Duchess ‘humbly apologised’ for publicly shaming Epstein
In the Evening Standard interview from 2011, Ferguson had apologised for accepting a £15,000 payment from convicted sex offender Epstein and said: “I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf”.
She added that she would repay all the money received and “have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
However, just over one month later, the duchess sent the apology email to Epstein, who had pleaded guilty to a state charge of procuring for prostitution a girl below the age of 18 three years earlier.
The Sun reported that the duchess had “humbly apologised” to Epstein in her email for linking him to paedophilia in the media and described him as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family”.
The duchess’s spokesperson previously said Ferguson had spoken of her regret about her association with Epstein.
Epstein died by suicide in his cell at a federal jail in New York City in August 2019 while he awaited trial for sex-trafficking charges.
Civil Society has contacted the charities involved for comment.
