In hiding after last week’s revelations that she’d described Jeffrey Epstein as a “supreme friend” after he served time for child sex abuse, Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson’s reputation is now beyond repair, according to royal experts.
“This has finished her charity career and possibly ended any future involvement with the royal family,” Phil Dampier tells Woman’s Day. “Sarah and Prince Andrew are cornered and doubtless terrified of what’s coming next. Fergie has used up her last comeback.”
Even more shockingly, royal expert Andrew Lownie now claims Fergie, 65, remained friends with Epstein for years longer than she claimed and was also far more financially beholden to him than originally reported.
“She remained an associate of Epstein’s until as late as 2013, more than two years after her grovelling apology for ever having known him,” the royal author told the Daily Mail.
SHOCKING NEWS
“It was no surprise [they] remained closer considering the amount of money he had given or lent her… not $30,700 as was widely reported but closer to $4 million.”
Last week details about this apology, made by Sarah in 2011, were made public despite her pledging not to contact Epstein any more. At that time, she had admitted that he’d assisted her financially at a time when she was in debt.
The duchess promised she had “no idea of the string of other allegations and court cases” against Epstein, adding that she was “distraught” that she allowed herself to get out of debt with help from him. She also insisted she would “have nothing to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again”.
Yet in the newly uncovered emails to Epstein, she appears to completely contradict herself and even apologises for publicly distancing herself from him.
She writes to him, “You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” adding that she “humbly apologised” and that she knew he felt “let down by me”.
When this shocking news broke, Sarah’s spokesperson said in a statement that this email had been sent to “assuage Epstein and his threats”, in a bid to counter a threat from him to sue her for defamation, which she was concerned about.
Adviser James Henderson remembered a phone call in which Epstein threatened to “destroy” her in a “Hannibal Lecter style” and Fergie’s reaction was a bid to protect her loved ones.
“The pressure she was put under to protect her family must have been huge,” the spokesman told The Telegraph.
However, Andrew Lownie claims to have spoken to a former resident at the Manhattan building owned by Epstein’s brother, who saw Sarah staying in one of its furnished apartments in 2013.
“It is unclear on how many occasions Ferguson stayed at the residence,” he alleges. “Just that on each occasion it was ‘only for a few days’.”
SWIFTLY DROPPED
Seven charities have dropped the Duchess of York as patron or ambassador, with the British children’s hospice charity Julia’s House the first to make the move, saying how it was “inappropriate” to keep Sarah on. As the scandal broke, Fergie’s friend Lizzie Cundy told UK’s Channel Five that she had heard via the duchess’ PA that she was “devastated” and “going through hell”.
And as Fergie’s signing events for her new children’s picture book are also cancelled, it’s possible her appearance at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral days before the scandal broke could mark her last ever royal outing.
“The fear is much more will come out,” believes Phil Dampier.
KATE REACHES OUT
While Beatrice and Eugenie are reportedly “devastated” by their shamed mum’s latest scandal, one member of the royal family has already been in touch to offer support and comfort – the Princess of Wales. “Kate can’t imagine what they’re going through,” a palace insider reveals of Bea, 37, and Eugenie, 35.
“She’s already reached out to them privately to let them know she is informally there for them.”
While Kate and William have agreed to keep their distance, privately they’ve agreed that the sisters shouldn’t be tarnished with the same brush as their parents. “It’s not fair they be judged by their awful parents – they have proven time and again how diligent and hard-working they are.”
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