LONDON (AP) — A lot of charities on Monday severed ties with Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, after British newspapers revealed an e-mail that she reportedly wrote to the late convicted intercourse offender and financier Jeffrey Epstein, describing him as a “supreme good friend.’’
Julia’s Home, a kids’s hospice, mentioned that the reported correspondence made it inappropriate for Ferguson, also called the Duchess of York, to stay a patron. A spokesman for Ferguson mentioned that she despatched an e-mail on the recommendation of her attorneys after Epstein threatened to sue her for associating him with sexual abuse in a media interview, Britain’s Press Related reported.
“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,’’ the charity said. “We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.”
A meals allergy charity, The Natasha Allergy Analysis Basis, and Stop Breast Most cancers, had been additionally among the many charities that lower ties in gentle of latest revelations. The Teenage Most cancers Belief, which had an affiliation with Ferguson for 35 years, additionally dropped her as a patron.
The e-mail referred to a 2011 interview with the Night Normal newspaper wherein she apologized for accepting 15,000 kilos from Epstein.
“I abhor paedophilia 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,’’ Ferguson said in the interview. “Whenever I can, I will repay the money and have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
However the next month, Ferguson despatched an e-mail to Epstein wherein she “humbly apologized” for linking him to intercourse abuse, saying “you have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” The Solar newspaper reported over the weekend.
The Related Press could not independently verify that the e-mail is genuine.
The story comes lower than a month after Andrew himself was criticized for staying in contact with Epstein for 5 years longer than beforehand claimed.
Leaked e-mail correspondence between Epstein and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak indicated that the prince had been in contact with Epstein as late as 2015, the Occasions of London reported. Andrew advised the BBC in 2019 that he ceased all contact with Epstein in December 2010, after the late financier pled responsible to intercourse crimes in Florida.
Andrew and his ex-wife have confronted a sequence of scandals amid considerations that the prince has tried to revenue from his royal standing.
He was compelled to surrender all royal duties and charity roles after the 2019 interview with the BBC wherein he was criticized for making an attempt to attenuate his connections with Epstein and failing to point out sympathy for his victims. Final yr, it emerged {that a} suspected Chinese language spy had developed shut hyperlinks with Andrew, elevating considerations about efforts to place undue affect on different members of the royal household.
