The Duchess of York has been dropped by six charities over her email correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein. Photo / Getty Images
The Duchess of York has been dropped by a number of charities over her email correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
Six charities have cut ties with her, marking an end to her 35-year patronage of the Teenage Cancer Trust, after an email came to light in which she apologised to the paedophile for publicly disowning him.
The organisations – including the British Heart Foundation – announced their decision to remove the duchess, 65, as patron on Monday, following reports that she described Epstein as a “supreme friend” in 2011 after he was convicted of procuring a child for prostitution.
Several said that it would be “inappropriate” for Prince Andrew’s ex-wife to continue her patronage, including Julia’s House, a children’s hospice, and The Children’s Literacy Charity.
Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, the founders of The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said they had been “disturbed” to read of her correspondence with Epstein.
In an email to the late financier, published on Sunday by the Sun and Mail on Sunday, the duchess apologised for criticising him in public, adding that he was a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family”.
“I know you feel hellaciously let down by me,” she wrote in the April 2011 email, insisting that she had not used the “P word” (paedophilia) in her interview condemning him in March of that year.
The charities that have cut ties with the duchess are the Teenage Cancer Trust, Prevent Breast Cancer, the British Heart Foundation, The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Julia’s House and The Children’s Literacy Charity.
Julia’s House, a children’s hospice in Dorset and Wiltshire, was the first to sever its association with her, ending six years of the Duchess’s patronage.
The charity said: “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.”
Teenage Cancer Trust, for which she has been a patron since it opened its first unit at the Middlesex Hospital in London in 1990, severed ties with the duchess within hours of saying it was “reviewing” her status.
The organisation said in a statement: “We have made the decision to end our relationship with the Duchess of York, and as of today she is no longer a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust.
“We have communicated this decision to the duchess. We would like to thank the Duchess of York for her support.”
The patronage is a big loss for the duchess, who took both her daughters, Princess Eugenie and Princess Beatrice, to Teenage Cancer Trust units on their 18th birthdays.
On the 30th anniversary of her patron status for the charity in 2020, she was moved to tears when Princess Beatrice paid tribute to her, saying the organisation was “one big Teenage Cancer Trust family” because of her three decades of work.
Elsewhere, the Ednan-Laperouse family, founder of the food allergy charity that introduced Natasha’s Law for food labels, said: “We were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of York’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
“Sarah Ferguson has not been actively involved with the charity for some years. 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.
“We would like to thank her for her kindness and support in the past.”
Prevent Breast Cancer, of which the duchess has been a patron for a little under a year, also announced that they were dropping the duchess in light of her email to Epstein.
A spokesman for the charity said: “The Duchess of York is no longer a patron of Prevent Breast Cancer. We have advised her of this decision and thank her for her past support.”
She took up the position after she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023 and has since been an outspoken advocate for regular mammograms to catch the disease early.
The British Heart Foundation, for which she has been an ambassador for almost a decade, thanked her for her “past efforts to help us save and improve lives” as they became the last to drop her.
The disclosure of correspondence between the duchess and Epstein has called into question her account of their relationship after she had claimed she had cut ties with him.
The email followed her giving an interview in March of 2011, in which she apologised for the “terrible, terrible error of judgment” in associating with him and accepting his money, promising she would have “nothing ever to do” with him again.
She admitted to taking £15,000 ($34,000) from the convicted sex offender in 2011 to pay unpaid wages and bills she owed to Johnny O’Sullivan, her former personal assistant.
Now the revelations about her correspondence with Epstein have dragged her into the spotlight with Prince Andrew, her ex-husband, who has already stepped back from public duty over his association with Epstein.
It is understood that she sent the email after receiving threats from Epstein following her interview.
On Sunday, a spokesman for the duchess said: “The duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims. Like many people, she was taken in by his lies.
“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 paedophilia.
“She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”
She claimed that at the time of sending the emails, she had been advised to act with the “utmost speed” to save her career as a children’s book author and philanthropist.
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