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UK charities axe Prince Andrew's ex-wife over Epstein email / Photo: © POOL/AFP
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UK charities axe Prince Andrew's ex-wife over Epstein email
Numerous UK charities Monday severed ties with Sarah Ferguson, the ex-wife of disgraced Prince Andrew, after a new email emerged in which she called convicted US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein a "supreme friend" and sought forgiveness for "letting him down".
In the 2011 message obtained by The Mail on Sunday, Ferguson -- widely known by her nickname Fergie -- called him a "steadfast, generous and supreme friend" and apologised for disowning him.
The Duchess of York told Epstein she had been instructed to give a critical interview about him weeks earlier to protect "my career as a children's book author and children's philanthropist".
In that interview, Ferguson vowed to "never have anything to do with" Epstein again and called a £15,000 ($20,000) loan the billionaire had made to her "a gigantic error of judgement".
But she said in her later email: "I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. And I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that."
Ferguson, 65, has previously said Epstein gave her the loan to help her pay off debts.
On Monday, at least six charities that she was a patron of confirmed they had terminated her involvement following the email release, each thanking her for past work and support.
They included the British Heart Foundation, the children's hospice Julia's House, the Children's Literacy Charity, a leading food allergy foundation, the Prevent Breast Cancer group as well as the Teenage Cancer Trust organisation.
"Julia's House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron," it said in a statement.
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said they were "disturbed" by the correspondence with Epstein.
"Sarah Ferguson has not been actively involved with the charity for some years," they noted in a statement.
"She was a patron but, in the light of the recent revelations, we have taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue to be associated with the charity."
- 'Epstein threats' -
The duchess had only become a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer last year following her own experience with the disease in 2023.
Ferguson, who married Prince Andrew in 1986 before the couple divorced a decade later, has since reinvented herself as an author, media personality and charity patron.
She has remained close to Andrew -- whose elder brother is King Charles III -- and stayed loyal to him after his public downfall over his own Epstein links.
The pair, who still live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park, west of London, had been making a tentative return to the public spotlight, both appearing at the Duchess of Kent's funeral last week.
Following the reports about her 2011 email, a spokesman for Ferguson said it was sent "in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats".
Reports have said he had been considering a defamation lawsuit against her over the interview.
M.Johnson--SMC
