As the latest Epstein files drop sheds light on astonishing communications between Sarah Ferguson and Jeffrey Epstein, the Mirror unpicks how the unlikely relationship blossomed
Born into upper-crust country gentry and married into the British Royal Family, once upon a time, it seemed as though Sarah Ferguson had the world at her feet. So how is it that she ended up befriending one of the most reviled men in recent history?
Newly released emails in the latest tranche of Epstein files indicate a disturbingly close bond between the former Duchess of York and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, whom she referred to in gushing messages as a “legend” and the “brother” she’d always longed for.
The 66-year-old’s affection for Epstein appeared to have endured even after his monstrous crimes came to light. The exchanges are all dated after Epstein was convicted in 2008 for prostituting minors. Those who kept in contact with the sex offender over the years remain haunted by their correspondence, including Fergie. Here we unpick the bombshell emails released this month, which paint a bleak picture of how Sarah fell under Epstein’s powerful spell…
READ MORE: Sarah Ferguson emails Epstein ‘Love you’ while he was in prison for child sex offences
‘Urgent’ plea for cash
In March 2011, Sarah admitted borrowing £15,000 from Epstein, but in an interview with the Evening Standard she said she made a “terrible, terrible error of judgment”.
Newly released emails suggest that the former Duchess borrowed more money from the disgraced fianncer, and repeatedly turned to Epstein for help as her business ventures failed.
In one message from 2009 she told him: “I urgently need £20,000 for rent today. The landlord has threatened to go to the newspapers if I don’t pay. Any brainwaves?” Account transactions further show that Epstein transferred $150,000 (£109,000) to Fergie following a share sale, wiring the cash to the former Duchess.
‘Love you’
The Epstein files reveal Ferguson emailed the sex offender, telling him “love you,” while he was still serving time behind bars for soliciting sex from a minor.
As per the latest three million-strong tranche of documents released by the Department of Justice, the then-Duchess was in frequent communication with Epstein regarding her fledgling business just a month before his release. The sex offender had been serving 13 months of his 18-month sentence when she approached him for advice on how to kickstart Mothers Army – a business concept designed to “amplify the voices of mothers around the world”.
The correspondence begins with an email sent by “Sarah” on June 14, 2009, a little over a month before Epstein’s July 22 release. It reads: “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 message sent June 26, Fergie revealed that she’d spoken to the “first lady” who had “loved the Mothers Army” before telling caged Epstein she would call him later. Ferguson wrote: “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”.
While Mother’s Army is a concept primarily associated with the former duchess, documents suggest that it may not have always belonged to her, with a 2011 email sent by Epstein to “Ferg” telling her she can “have mothers army”. Epstein, by this point freed, said: “It was always for you„ Im not sure how to transfer it, but rest assured , it is your in its entirety, I will ask how the transfer is accomplished, we just want to be careful that there is no downside at the moment to have a transaction between you and I.”
Meeting Beatrice and Eugenie
Emails suggest that Sarah arranged for Epstein to have lunch with herself and her daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, not long after he was released from prison. In July 2009, Epstein emailed Ferguson, asking “where are you? .. ” The recipent, “Sarah”, then responds: “In Miami. What number shall I call you on now” (sic).
Sarah proceeds to say that she stayed at “Phillip Levine house with the girls. I am aiming to get to you for 12:30 for lunch. Does that suit?” When Epstein offered “a ride,” this suggestion was declined, with Sarah, who confirmed it will be “myself, Beatrice and Eugenie”, explaining: “I made Phillip give us his car and a back up one for the policeman.”
‘Brother I have always wished for’
Other newly released emails show Fergie praising Epstein after he apparently complimented her in front of Eugenie and Beatrice, even going as far as to hail him as the “brother” she had “always wished for”. In the gushing message, sent August 3, 2009, Sarah wrote: “In just week, after your lunch, it seems the energy has lifted. I have never been more touched by a friends kindness than your compliment to me in front of my girls. Thank you Jeffrey for being the brother I have always wished for.”
This wasn’t the only time Ferguson showered Epstein with praise. The following year, an affectionate email saw Sarah tell “legend” Epstein, “just marry me”. She penned: “You are a legend. I really don’t have the words to describe, my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness Xx I am at your service . Just marry me.”
Party at the palace
In February 2010, less than one year after the paedophile’s release from prison, the then Duchess of York invited Epstein to Andrew’s milestone 50th birthday celebrations at St James’s Palace, the newly released emails show, asking him to “bring your presents. your presence and your humour”.
The correspondance readds: “Beatrice, Eugenie and I would love to invite you to celebrate the 50 years of Papa/Andrew. It will be on February 26th 2010, from 7.30pm for Drinks and for 8.30pm for Dinner, at St. James’s Palace, London. It will be suits and cocktail dresses, and you know me, mysterious mischief. so bring your presents. your presence and your humour!”
Epstein replied to confirm that he would “not able” to attend the bash, but it appears this wasn’t the only time he had been made to feel welcome by Fergie at palace gatherings. The year before, an email sent by Epstein to hedge fund manager Glenn Dubin alleged “fergie said she could organise tea in the apts.. or windsor castle” (sic). Epstein went on to tell Dubin to call Fergie directly.
Crude sex joke
In one email dated March 2010, Esptein appears to ask Fergie about her plans to visit New York, enquiring: “ny?” Fergie replied: “Not sure yet. Just waiting for Eugenie to come back from a sh*****g weekend.” This message was sent around the time of Princess Eugenie’s 20th birthday, which she spent with her then-boyfriend, now husband, Jack Brooksbank.
This isn’t the first time the two princesses were brought up in conversation. On July 1, 2010, Epstein emailed Ferguson to inform her that he’d be in London that week, asking whether there was a chance of Beatrice and Eugenie, who were then aged 21 and 20, “saying h=llo” (sic). Two days later, the then-duchess replied, informing Epstein that Beatrice was in London with Andrew, while “Eugie is away with cool boyfri=d.” (sic).
The York princesses are said to be “mortified” and “aghast” at the revelations that have emerged from this latest batch of Epstein files. A source close to Eugenie and Beatrice told the Daily Mail: “They are aghast at what they have read. They are mortified by the emails their mother has sent to Epstein. It is so embarrassing for them. We don’t believe the girls were told much about what has just emerged [in the latest Epstein files release], and they will simply be aghast at just how close their parents were to this appalling man.”
‘You are my pillar’
In July 2010, Fergie appeared to draw comparisons between herself and Henry VIII’s doomed wives, Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard, declaring “no woman has ever left the Royal family with her head” in a particularly dramatic email to Epstein. At that time, Ferguson was navigating yet another embarrassing personal crisis, after being duped by a journalist from the now-defunct News of the World, who went undercover as an “international tycoon” willing to pay megabucks for an audience with Andrew.
Fergie obliged, offering access to her ex-husband to the tune of £500,000. “That opens up everything you would ever wish for. I can open any door you want, and I will for you. Look after me and he’ll look after you … you’ll get it back tenfold,” she said.
Little did the then-duchess know, as the meeting unfolded at a Mayfair apartment, that it was all being secretly filmed, and that the wealthy businessman was in fact a reporter looking for a good scoop. The uproar after the truth came to light was excruciating for the royal family, and none more so than Fergie.
It was at this same time that Ferguson agreed to an interview with Oprah Winfrey, where she opened up candidly about facing bankruptcy and having to take a room in her Andrew’s Royal Lodge home. Feeling “1000 per cent hung out to dry”, Sarah confided in her “pillar” Epstein, about her myriad of woes, claiming: “Just as I always said, no woman has ever left the Royal family with her head, and the [sic] cannot behead me, therefore they will discredit me. Totally to obliteration. I have no words.”
The Daily Mail reports that, in an email dated July 13, 2010, Sarah appeared to beg Epstein for a response, pleading: “Have you died on me? Don’t… Please you are my pillar.” The paedophile, who appears to have repeatedly organised accommodation for Sarah over in the US, didn’t respond to this flattery, simply replying: ‘I thought you needed a place for the second week?’.
Fergie responded: “Dear Jeffrey, yes I did need a second place for a week?” She continued: ‘And I thank you so much, but just as I predicted many, many months ago, the British press is ready to exterminate me, and it seems that PricewaterhouseCoopers and the palace system are not equipped to deal with all of this huge wave of negativity.
“Therefore I have to return to the UK, and be exterminated and face the thunderous music. I am now 1000 per cent being hung out to dry, just as I predicted you will see, the Press will have me exiled. 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. I have to return to face my judge and jury and be hung yet again.”
At the time of this exchange, Fergie’s accounts were being audited by PwC. It was later discovered that some of the duchess’s collossal debts had been paid off by wealthy Epstein, a decision she would later describe as a “gigantic error”.
Grovelling apology
On March 7 2011, in an interview with the Evening Standard, Sarah declared she had distanced herself from Epstein, and apologised for accepting £15,000 from the sex offender. She told the publication: “I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf. I am just so contrite, I cannot say. Whenever I can, I will repay the money and have nothing ever to do with ever again.”
It’s now been reported that Epstein cut off contact with Fergie after this interview. Enraged by her words to the press, he asked Ferguson to write a “letter” to “set the record straight”. Emailing an address for “Ferg”, Epstein copied in the duchess’s spokesperson, James Henderson, asserting: “I have not received your letter, setting the record straight. Henderson told me I would have it three weeks ago.”
In a bid to mitigate the situation, Henderson replied: “Please also be aware that the Duchess has given several interviews and made the following comments as requested by you… ‘He has always been there for me. He pleaded guilty many years ago to a prostitution crime, not a crime of paedophilia as has been the tabloids’ exaggeration. He has asked for forgiveness and paid his debt. I have nothing more to say’.”
Behind the scenes, Ferguson appeared to take a more grovelling approach, as detailed in emails which came to public attention back in September 2025. In these messages, dated April 26 2011, Fergie “humbly apologised” for connecting her “supreme friend” to paedophilia in her interview, while praising him as “steadfast” and “generous”.
The emails read as follows: “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. 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.” She continued: “I am apologising to you today for not replying to your email or reaching out to you. I was bedridden with fear. I was paralysed. I was advised in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you. And if I did – I would cause more problems to you, I was broken and lost. So please understand. I didn’t want to hurt Andrew one more time. I was in over-riding fear. I am sorry.”
After this bombshell correspondence came to light, Sarah’s spokesperson issued a statement explaining the email had been sent “in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats”. Despite this explanation, however, it appeared that reputational damage had been done. Not long after this scandal erupted, Julia’s House, a children’s hospice in Dorset and Wiltshire, announced that it was “inappropriate” for Fergie to continue in her role as patron.
‘Celebrating’ release
In an email reportedly sent by Epstein to his lawyer Paul Tweed in 2011 – one month after Sarah’s interview apologising for her ties to the convicted sex offender – the disgraced financer claimed she had been the “first to celebrate” his prison release in 2009, and had done so with “her two daughters in tow”. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie would have been 20 and 19 years old, respectively, in the summer of Epstein’s release.
In the now-leaked messages, Epstein is said to have told his lawyers that Sarah “should affirmatively state that she was misquoted”., claiming: “[Sarah] took apartments in New York. She was the first to celebrate my release with her two daughters in tow. She visited me with [a] policeman sitting at my front desk. She has asked for help with her charities.” At the time this email was leaked, a source close to Ferguson insisted that neither she nor her daughters had any recollection of such a visit.
Barbed congratulations
In September 2011, just seven months after Fergie claimed she would “have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again”, the ex-royal accused the sex offender of only pursuing their friendship “to get to Andrew”.
In the first of two texts sent to Epstein over the BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service, Ferguson congratulated Epstein on the arrival of his “baby boy”, whose identity remains unknown. The tone of the message would indicate that Epstein had cut contact with the duchess, while she continued to pledge her enduring “love” and “friendship”.
In the message, sent to Epstein one year on from his release from house arrest, Sarah penned: “Don’t know if you are still on this bbm but heard from The Duke that you have had a baby boy. Even though you never kept in touch, I still am here with love, friendship and congratualtions [sic] on your baby boy. Sarah xx”.
Just eight minutes later, having seemingly not received the reply she’d hoped for, Fergie appeared to take a stronger approach, emphasising that Epstein had hurt her “deeply”. She said: “You have disappeared. I did not even know you were having a baby. It was sOOOOO crystal clear to me that you were only friends with me to get to Andrew. And that really hurt me deeeply [sic]. More than you will know.” As reported by The Times, it’s understood that Sarah did not learn any more about this baby boy, who, if he does exist, would now be 14-years-old.
In July 2009, Epstein was released from prison after serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence in a Palm Beach County jail after pleading guilty to state charges of soliciting prostitution and soliciting prostitution with a minor. Following his release, Epstein spent a year under house arrest but was still permitted to travel frequently. In July 2019, Epstein was arrested once again, this time on charges of federal sex trafficking, but died by suicide in a New York jail cell the following month before he could stand trial.
The Mirror has approached Sarah Ferguson, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the Palace for comment. Andrew has always strongly denied any wrongdoing.
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