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Prince Andrew wasn’t the only member of the royal family to maintain a friendship with the deceased sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also had ties to Epstein.
In fact, a newly uncovered email from 2011, finds the Duchess of York issuing a groveling apology to Epstein after she’d publicly vowed to cut ties with him.
In 2011, Ferguson was harshly criticized for accepting cash loans (some called them gifts) from Epstein, despite the fact that he had already served prison time for procuring a child for prostitution and soliciting a prostitute.
In the wake of that revelation, she vowed to cut ties with the disgraced financier.
“I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,” Ferguson told the media at the time.
“I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite I cannot say,” she continued, adding:
“Whenever I can, I will repay the money and have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again. What he did was wrong and for which he was rightly jailed.
“I will never have anything to do with him again. I deeply regret it. How many more times do you want me to underline that?” Ferguson concluded.
As it turns out, she emailed Epstein to apologize shortly after making that statement,.
“You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family. As you know, I did not, absolutely not, say the ‘P word’ [pedophile] about you but understand it was reported that I did,” Ferguson wrote in an email obtained by the Daily Mail.
“However, I am apologizing to you today for not replying to your email or reaching out to you when the tabloids were so horrendous.”
Lengthy apology email leads charity to cut ties
From there, Ferguson apologized again, this time for taking so long to contact Epstein after her disavowal went public.
“It is unlike me. I was advised, in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you and if I did I would cause more problems to you, the Duke and myself,” she explained.
“I was broken and lost. I shut down and ran away. So please understand, as I do about you, that I was broken and not the strong person you know and I got completely obliterated and I saw all my children’s work disappearing. I didn’t want to hurt Andrew one more time.”
Not surprisingly, multiple children’s charities have chosen to cut ties with Sarah in the wake of this week’s revelation.
According to the Indepedent, one such organization is Julia House, a children’s hospice that had been one of Sarah’s signature causes.
A spokeserson for the Duchess of York has issued the following statement explaining that Ferguson was attempting to placate Epstein amid threats of a lawsuit:
“The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims. Like many people, she was taken in by his lies.
“As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia.
“She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”
We will have futher updates on this developing story as new information becomes available.