The whole sorry saga involving Prince Andrew’s rather blatant ties to notorious sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have cast a distinct and unwanted shadow over the British Royal Family.
Having reached an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre, the woman at the epicenter of Andrew’s involvement in Epstein’s sordid world of sex trafficking, the prince might have thought he was finally off the hook. Sure, the whole affair cost him his reputation and military titles (which his mother, Queen Elizabeth, stripped him of in 2022), but with Epstein dead and his chief accuser seemingly quieted, Andrew had every right to believe he had survived the worst of the storm.
That was until the winds recently began to blow again. Giuffre, who died by suicide earlier this year, wrote a memoir that is out today, Nobody’s Girl, detailing the trials, tribulations, and trauma she suffered at the hands of Jeffrey Epstein. She also spoke candidly about her sexual encounters with Andrew within the memoir’s pages, revealing the first one took place when she was just 17 years old.
Add to that the surfacing of new emails which confirm Andrew maintained a relationship with Epstein after he had claimed to have cut ties with the pedophile, and the prince is painted in a pretty damning light.
One such email saw Andrew telling Epstein “we’re in this together” after the infamous picture of the prince with his arm around then-teenager Giuffre was released in the media. He also told Epstein to “keep in close touch”, conferring a desire to “play some more soon”.
In 2019, Andrew told the BBC’s Newsnight programme that he had abruptly ended his friendship with Epstein in December 2010. The above email was reportedly sent in 2011.
As such, it’s hardly a surprise that Andrew has been left with no choice but to further distance himself from the Royal Family, or risk dragging the monarchy down with him.
Earlier this week Andrew himself confirmed that he would be relinquishing all his royal titles, saying in a statement released by Buckingham Palace: “In discussion with The King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.
“I have decided, as I always have, to put my duty to my family and country first. I stand by my decision five years ago to stand back from public life.”
He continued: “With His Majesty’s agreement, we feel I must now go a step further. I will therefore no longer use my title or the honours which have been conferred upon me. As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.”
Given the scrutiny with which the whole ordeal is being watched, it’s hardly a surprise that questions are now being asked concerning not only what will happen to Andrew from here on out, but also what will happen to his immediate family.
It’s been reported that his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, will experience little to no change as a result of their father’s alleged misconduct, but the same cannot be said for Sarah Ferguson.
The 66-year-old, separated from Andrew for almost 30 years, has been forced to publicly denounce her own ties to Epstein of late. After being married to Andrew for six years between 1986 and 1992, Sarah received a courtesy title, “Sarah, Duchess of York”, when the pair got a divorce.
The Yorks continued to reside together thereafter at Royal Lodge in Windsor, raising Beatrice and Eugenie. Ferguson supported Andrew amidst the slew of accusations he faced in 2022, claiming her ex-husband needed a break from the “focus” so that he could “rebuild” his life.
“With Prince Andrew, he’s such a good man,” Fergie told ITV at the time. “He’s a kind, good man. And I think the spotlight needs to come off him and let him get on with his life to rebuild.”
According to reports, Ferguson has also now lost her courtesy title following Andrew being stripped of his titles. The BBC say she will now be refer back to her maiden name of Ferguson, which one royal commentator, Richard Palmer, claims is perhaps more of a blow than people realise.
Speaking to the BBC, he said: “She will have lost a bit of cachet over this. She certainly does use the title – even her Twitter bio is @SarahTheDuchess.”
As mentioned above, Sarah’s own connections to Epstein have been talked about in the press recently, after it was alleged that she’d sent an email to the sex offender in 2011, describing him as a “supreme friend”.
The message was sent mere months after Ferguson had labeled her ties to Epsten a “gigantic error of judgment”.
A spokesperson for Ferguson defended has since claimed she was responding to a defamation threat by Epstein.
“Like many people, she was taken in by his lies,” they said. “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.”
As per the BBC’s royal correspondent, Sean Coughlan, Andrew and Ferguson’s day-to-day life won’t change all that much in the near future. The couple will continue to reside at Royal Lodge (which has a reported lease until 2078), and neither will be forced to go job hunting anytime soon.
That said, the extent of the irreparable damage done to their respective reputations becomes more obvious with each passing week. With plenty more pieces to the entire Epstein story yet to come into play, who knows what the field will look like in a year’s time.
What do you make of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson’s ties to Epstein? Let us know in the comments box.
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