The Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, has been asked to step down from her role as patron of Julia’s House, a children’s hospice charity. This decision follows the public revelation of an email sent by the Duchess in 2011, in which she described Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender, as her “supreme friend”.
Julia’s House, which supports families in Dorset and Wiltshire, stated that it was no longer appropriate for the Duchess to continue her association with the charity given this new information. A spokesperson for the charity confirmed that they had informed the Duchess of their decision and expressed gratitude for her past support.
The Duchess’s spokesperson commented that the email was sent in an attempt to appease Epstein, who was reportedly threatening legal action against her for defamation at the time. The spokesperson also noted that the Duchess deeply regretted any past association with him.
Ferguson had been a patron of the charity since 2018. Her removal comes after the email’s contents were published, seemingly contradicting her earlier public statements in 2011 where she called her involvement with Epstein a “gigantic error of judgement” and acknowledged his wrongdoing.