Charities drop Sarah, Duchess of York as patron after details of Epstein email emerge

A string of charities have dropped Sarah, Duchess of York as their patron after an email came to light in which she apologised to Jeffrey Epstein, after his conviction for procuring a child for prostitution.

Epstein was convicted in 2008. In 2011, after he had been released, the duchess wrote to him to say sorry after publicly criticising him.

The duchess had given an interview in early 2011 in which she said that a £15,000 loan from Epstein had been a ”gigantic error of judgement” and said she would ”never have anything to do” with him again.

Weeks later, she emailed to apologise for disowning him. She told him he was a ”steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family” and said she had never described him as a paedophile in the interview.

The email also saw the duchess tell Epstein ”I know you feel hellaciously let down by me”.

The emails were published by the Mail on Sunday and The Sun over the weekend.

Almost as soon as their offices opened on September 22, six charities broke their links with the duchess.

The first to drop her as a patron was Julia’s House, a children’s hospice, which had had Sarah as its patron for six years.

The duchess also lost her patronage of the Teenage Cancer Trust which she had been involved with since its first unit opened at the Middlesex Hospital in 1990. In a statement, the Trust was categoric that the association had ended but added ”We would like to thank the Duchess of York for her support.”

Another recent addition to the patronages of the duchess, Prevent Breast Cancer, also dropped her as a patron. She had taken on that role in 2023 after her own diagnosis.

The British Heart Foundation also parted ways with Sarah, Duchess of York after almost ten years as did The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation. The Children’s Literacy Trust has also dropped her.

After the email was published, the duchess issued a statement in which she said she had been advised to send the email to protect her own career as a children’s author.

A statement released on her behalf said ”The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims. Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. 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. he 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.”