The royal and her ex-husband Andrew have caused repeated embarrassment for the Royal Family over their association with late paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
Sarah Ferguson has reportedly surfaced in public after months of disappearing from view, and days following her ex-husband’s shock arrest.
The former Duchess of York, 66, has been entirely absent from the public eye for weeks following the release of a new tranche of files from the Department of Justice capturing her correspondence with convicted paedophile and sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein. Inclusion in the Epstein files does not indicate any wrongdoing, but she and former Prince Andrew have caused fresh embarrassment for the Royal Family – which has only intensified following Andrew’s arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Ms Ferguson has now reportedly been seen for the first time surfacing outside the UK as she keeps herself separate from the furore surrounding Andrew, with whom she had lived until recently.
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It has now been reported she fled the UK as her former husband became further embroiled in the scandal, having not been seen in public since the Christening of her granddaughter Athena Mapelli Mozzi, the daughter of Princess Beatrice. She is said to have holed herself up in Zurich, Switzerland.
Ms Ferguson’s absence comes as documents revealed correspondence with Epstein in multiple documents releases from the US Department of Justice, showing that she had spoken with the paedophile on friendly terms while he served time for heinous crimes.
Among the revelations involving the royal was that she had repeatedly emailed with Epstein while he was serving a sentence for child sex offences. Epstein was released from prison on July 22, 2009, having served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting an underage girl for sex.
In an email included in the files dated to June 14, 2009, just under a week before his release, a contact identified as “Sarah” emails him about one of the then Duchess of York’s business initiatives.
The contact asks: “I need to ask you how I start The Mothers Army company so it can be commercial, how do I do that? Can you help me?” In a follow-up on June 26, she signs off an email with “love you”, writing: “I am alive… yes I did go to the first lady and she loved the Mothers Army. I am going to call you later Love you”.
Her association culminated in the closure of her charitable foundation, Sarah’s Trust, which was “dedicated to supporting frontline, grassroots work to address the humanitarian and environmental crisis, the hunger crisis and issues perpetuating cycles of extreme poverty”.
It was shuttered “for the foreseeable future”, a spokesperson announced, just days after new details of her relationship with Epstein emerged. The spokesperson said the decision had followed “some months” of discussion.
They said it had also followed agreement between Ms Ferguson and her board of trustees, saying: “Our chair Sarah Ferguson and the board of trustees have agreed that with regret the charity will shortly close for the foreseeable future,” a spokesman said on Monday evening. This has been under discussion and in train for some months.”
