Prince William and King Charles on 'cutting ties' with Sarah Ferguson amid Epstein email scandal
Sarah is still involved in the royal familyPrince William and King Charles are reportedly at odds over what to do with Sarah Ferguson amid her Epstein email scandal.
65-year-old Sarah has been hit with backlash over the past few days after it emerged that she emailed Jeffrey Epstein weeks after vowing to cut ties with him in 2011.
Sarah Ferguson and the Epstein email scandal
Earlier this week, it was revealed that Sarah had sent Jeffrey Epstein an email, calling him a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend” in 2011. It was sent just weeks after she publicly vowed to cut ties with him.
However, her publicist claims that the duchess wrote the email to the notorious peadophile under pressure. Epstein had allegedly threatened to sue her for defamation.
Speaking to the Evening Standard in 2011, Sarah had vowed to cut ties with Epstein after accepting £15,000 from him to help settle debts.
“I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me. I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgement on my behalf,” she said.
However, just weeks later, in a message sent from her private email account, she appeared to be apologetic.
“I know you feel hellaciously let down by me,” she reportedly wrote to Epstein. “And I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that. You have always been a steadfast, generous, and supreme friend to me and my family.”
Sarah dropped as patron of charities
A spokesperson for the duchess has claimed the email was sent under duress. They said that Epstein had “threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia”.
In light of the emails being revealed, Sarah has been dropped as a patron of Julia’s House, a children’s hospice charity.
“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,” they said.
Charles and William at odds over whether or not to ‘cut off’ Fergie
Now, it’s being reported that William and his father, Charles, are at odds over how to deal with Sarah in light of the scandal.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, a source has claimed that William is keen for his father to act and “disown” Fergie and Prince Andrew.
Prince Andrew, of course, had a close friendship with Epstein in the 2000s. However, he too was found to have remained in contact with the paedophile, despite claiming he’d cut contact. Andrew later said he wasn’t close to Epstein and he used their time together to establish business contacts.
“William feels even more strongly than The King that Andrew and Fergie are an embarrassment and will be urging his father to act. The optics of that pair of chancers guffawing away [at events] look terrible,” the source said.
However, the king has other views.
King ‘doesn’t want to cut ties’ with Andrew and Sarah
“The King doesn’t want to cut ties with his brother, former sister-in-law and that side of the family. The late Queen, conscious that Fergie was the mother of her granddaughters, always took that view, even if Prince Philip couldn’t bear to be in the same room as Sarah” the source then continued.
However, the source said that the king may “ban” Andrew and Sarah from attending the Christmas Day walk.
“He may also finally evict them from Royal Lodge, their Windsor mansion, which William is said to be demanding as a minimum,” the source then added.
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