Sarah Ferguson emails to Epstein show increasing desperation
32 minutes agoSean Coughlan,Royal correspondentandLauren Turner,Culture reporter
Getty ImagesSarah Ferguson’s image was once about her good-humoured ability to bounce back from misfortunes and embarrassment, but the latest Epstein emails appear to cast her in a different light.
She comes across as a needy figure, chasing money and support, more desperate than duchess – apparently describing herself to Epstein as “very traumatised and alone”, and seeming to suggest she could be employed to “organise your houses”.
But there are also glimpses of a life of privilege, as the same email mentions she’s in the south of France with the “perfect butler”.
The BBC has contacted Ferguson for comment on the latest release. Being named among the Epstein files is not an indication of wrongdoing.
The messages between Ferguson and Epstein almost seem like he’s talking about someone on his payroll, such as asking her to show business contacts round Buckingham Palace – and her daughters get included too.
In a message to “Ferg” in March 2010, Epstein writes: “Thank you Sarah, could you are (sic) one of your daughters show (redacted) buckingham thanks.”
An apparent reply from “Sarah” reads: “Of course.”
That July, referring to a separate occasion, she apparently writes to Epstein apologising that “the girls were not around this weekend”.
“Shows I don’t crack the whip when I am not in the country!,” the message continues. “Actually eugie was in france and beatrice was out with dave.”
Epstein also messages to say a friend will be in London, adding: “Any chance of your daughters saying hello.”
As more emails emerge, there’s a growing impression of how much Ferguson seemed to depend on Epstein, telling him he was her “pillar” and confiding “I have been so so sad”.
Some of the emails date from when Epstein was still serving a sentence for soliciting sex from a minor, according to the documents. He was released from prison on 22 July 2009 after serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence.
There are emails in the files from that June and earlier in the July from “Sarah”.
An email from August the following year reads: “I am feeling very traumatised and alone. I am wanting to work for you at organising your houses.”
The next month she appears to ask “when are you going to employ me”, and the same day “phew.. you still love me”.
Referring to her former husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, Ferguson seems to write later in 2010: “So you have not forgotten about me. I do know that my handsome Prince is a saint.. And you worship him, I do too.
“But then I did marry him. And still love him.”
Mountbatten-Windsor has consistently and strenuously always denied any wrongdoing and his office has been contacted for comment on the release of the files.
There are also messages behind her back between Epstein and his associates: “Getting financials for fergie is painful. Incredible mess. I’m on it but for sure completeness will always remain questionable.”
Ferguson also seems to take aim at the UK press and Royal Family in an email from July 2010 – the year tabloid reports said she had offered to sell access to ex-husband the then Prince Andrew.
She appears to tell Epstein that “the British press is ready to exterminate me” and that the Palace is “not equipped to deal with all of this huge wave of negativity”.
“I am now 1000 percent being hung out to dry, just as I predicted you will see, the Press will have me exiled,” the email continues.
“I am totally on my own now. This is beyond scandalous and nobody can do anything. I cannot believe what this is all coming to.”
She adds that “no woman has ever left the Royal Family with her head, and (they) cannot behead me, therefore they will discredit me. Totally to obliteration”.
This latest round of Epstein emails, released by the US Department of Justice, could remove her even more from public life.
On Monday evening, Ferguson’s charity, Sarah’s Trust, announced it would close “for the foreseeable future”.