LONDON — After having showcased its finest pomp and pageantry during President Donald Trump’s state visit last week, Britain’s royal family has quickly been plunged back into all-too familiar controversy.
Just days after Trump, the royals and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer largely skirted questions about Jeffrey Epstein that had threatened to complicate the sunny spectacle of his trip, the British press offered new revelations.
A newly surfaced email revealed that Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, described Epstein, the disgraced financier, as a “supreme friend” despite his conviction for sex offenses.
The email was published in two newspapers Sunday. It was sent by the duchess — the former wife of Prince Andrew, the Duke of York — in 2011, just weeks after she had publicly distanced herself from Epstein.
A spokesperson for the duchess said the email was sent to counter a threat Epstein had made to sue her for defamation.
But the duchess was dropped as a patron of two U.K. charities after the email was published. Both cited her correspondence with Epstein as the reason.
And the story will add new fuel to damaging media coverage about royal links to Epstein, which have centered on Andrew’s own close relationship and a lawsuit accusing him of sexual abuse — he denied the allegations by Virginia Giuffre and settled out of court. Giuffre died by suicide this year.
In a 2011 interview, the duchess said her involvement with Epstein — who was jailed in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from a minor — had been a “gigantic error of judgment,” promising she would never have anything to do with him again.
“I abhor pedophilia and any sexual abuse of children,” she said at the time, adding that what Epstein did was “wrong and for which he was rightly jailed.”
But The Sun and the Mail on Sunday reported that shortly after the interview, Ferguson emailed Epstein to reassure him she had not used the word “pedophilia” in reference to him.
“As you know, I did not, absolutely not, say the ‘P word’ about you but understand it was reported that I did,” she wrote. “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.”
The duchess was “taken in” by Epstein’s lies, her spokesperson said Sunday.
“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 pedophilia.”
The spokesperson said Ferguson stood by her public condemnation of Epstein. “This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats,” the spokesperson added
The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, a food allergy charity, said in a statement to NBC News that it was “disturbed to read” Ferguson’s correspondence with Epstein and that it would be “inappropriate” for her to continue to be associated with the charity.
A spokesperson for Julia’s House, a children’s hospice charity, also said it would be “inappropriate for her to continue as a patron.”
Both charities thanked the duchess for her past support.
Epstein was found dead by suicide in 2019 while he was awaiting a trial on sex trafficking charges in New York.
Andrew returned his military affiliations and royal patronages in January 2022 after his lawyers failed to persuade a U.S. judge to dismiss Giuffre’s lawsuit.
Andrew later paid a substantial sum to Giuffre, who alleged he abused her when she was 17. Andrew has repeatedly denied the allegation.
Giuffre died in April, with her family saying in a statement that “the toll of abuse is so heavy that it became unbearable for Virginia to handle its weight.”
Other royals have rarely appeared in public with Andrew since his fall from grace.
In December, Andrew was caught up in an alleged spying case after he cultivated an “unusual degree of trust” with a Chinese man who was barred from the U.K. on national security grounds, according to court documents.
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