Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York attend the funeral of Katharine, Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral on September 16, 2025

The King may be forced to ban the Yorks from private family occasions over their latest scandal involving convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

While Sarah was ‘persona non-grata’ while Prince Philip was alive, Queen Elizabeth did allow her to accompany her family to estates such as Balmoral or Sandringham when he wasn’t around as a gesture of kindness towards her young granddaughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie.

The King further took pity on her when she was diagnosed with cancer, allowing her to join the family in Norfolk on Christmas Day, as well as Windsor Castle at Easter.

But that may now have to stop, sources say.

A friend of the duchess said that she had ‘acted on advice’ when sending the grovelling email in an attempt to appease Epstein.

‘Epstein aggressively threatened to sue her. He was a nasty, unpleasant and very threatening man.

‘She acted on the advice she was given [in writing the emails] to try and get him to drop the threat, which he subsequently did,’ the friend added.

‘She stands by what she said many years ago. She deeply regrets any association with him and abhors paedophilia. She has worked for many years to support vulnerable young people.’

A spokesperson for the Duchess added: ‘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. 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,’ they added.

However, it is clear that many will feel her explanation rather impotent in the circumstances.

The Duke of York has already been forced to relinquish all his public duties and offices as a result of his association with Epstein, and is barred from attending official royal events.

But both the late Queen and her son, King Charles, have had their hands tied in preventing him from attending private family occasions, not least because the Duke has always denied any wrongdoing.

In recent years the Duke and, now, his ex-wife, have even appeared with the Royal Family on their annual walk to church at Sandringham on Christmas Day, as well as Windsor Castle at Easter.

And there was public shock this week when they both appeared front and centre alongside senior royals at Westminster Cathedral at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent.

One source has told the Daily Mail that the King has tried ‘every avenue available to him’ to ring-fence his brother.

This includes cutting off all his private funding, withdrawing his security and trying to persuade him to downsize from Royal Lodge, his 30-room mansion at Windsor, by offering him alternative accommodation – such as Harry and Meghan’s former home, Frogmore Cottage.

By doing this he hopes that it will lessen the current financial pressure on Andrew and make him less likely to pursue dangerous business deals or relationships.

However, Andrew has refused to budge, claiming he has a ‘cast iron’ lease on his home and that he can afford his financial responsibilities, leading to what is effectively a war of attrition between the brothers.

One clearly frustrated source said: ‘There is literally no more the king can do to cut off support [to the duke].’

Andrew has also continued to attended family gatherings ‘through the front door’, without any apparent concern for the ongoing embarrassment he is causing.

Last week it emerged that US investigators may have access to a damaging ‘cache’ of emails written by the duke to Epstein, that could prove even more ‘explosive’ than those pertaining to his ex-wife.

Some insiders believe Charles will now have no option but to explore ways to prevent his brother attending family events in a private capacity too – or at least if does, do so in a less conspicuous manner, through the back door.

‘It is about the last sanction he may be able to take,’ a source said, pointing out that there is a ‘real fear’ there may be more of this to come.

A bombshell email obtained by The Mail on Sunday revealed how the Duchess of York cynically lied when she pledged to cut ties with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Just weeks after publicly disowning the vile billionaire, Sarah Ferguson wrote him a gushing private message calling him a ‘steadfast, generous and supreme friend’ – and admitting she only distanced herself from him to save her own reputation.

The Duchess ‘humbly apologised’ to the convicted sex offender for letting him down, and said she had been told to speak out if she wanted to save her career as a children’s author.

‘Sometimes the heart speaks better than the words. You have my heart. With lots of love, dear Jeffrey.’

The Duchess adopted a similarly appreciative tone in her email of April 26, 2011, apologising for disowning him – while also trying to reassure him that she had never described him as a paedophile.

She told him she had been instructed to give the interview to protect ‘my career as a children’s book author and children’s philanthropist’ adding that she was ‘broken’ because ‘I saw all my children’s work disappearing’.

Pleading with the child abuser, she added: ‘I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read and I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that.’

The extraordinary email will send shock waves through the Royal Family and will fuel calls for King Charles and Prince William to completely ostracise the disgraced Yorks.

It comes just days after the Duke and Duchess launched an ill-judged return to the public limelight with a prominent, and widely criticised, appearance at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent.

Royal author Andrew Lownie said last night: ‘The language of this extraordinary email is completely two-faced.

‘It is hugely damaging to her credibility as a patron of children’s charities and children’s author.’

She sent the grovelling message ‘from the truth of my heart’, less than two months after telling journalists: ‘I will never have anything to do with [Epstein] again.’

Those comments came on March 7, 2011, amid mounting pressure over the links she and ex-husband Prince Andrew had to the paedophile – and the £15,000 bailout he gave her.

In an interview in the London Evening Standard with its then editor, Geordie Greig, she said that accepting Epstein’s money was ‘a gigantic error of judgment… I am just so contrite I cannot say’.

Another email obtained by this newspaper, which the Duchess sent on January 22, 2011 – is addressed to ‘my dear, dear friend Jeffrey’ and appears to thank him for his recent help with the huge debts she had racked up after years of lavish spending.

She wrote: ‘How can I thank you enough? You are a friend indeed and I will one day give it to you back. But I can not have the words to thank you now.

‘I have learnt to question everything the Duchess of York says in interviews. I think the wider Royal Family will be appalled by this – it’s yet more reputational damage.’

Last night a spokesman for the Duchess said that Epstein had threatened to sue her for defamation after her Evening Standard interview and she had been advised to try and ‘assuage’ him.

She stands by her public condemnation of the paedophile, the spokesman added.

Today’s astonishing revelations come after Lord Mandelson was fired as British Ambassador to Washington after a string of embarrassing emails between himself and Epstein – who was found dead in his jail cell in August 2019 – were released.

The emails between the billionaire and the Duchess were exchanged after he was released from a Florida jail in July 2009, having served 13 months of an 18 month sentence for soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14.

Just under 18 months later, in December 2010, Epstein agreed to pay £15,000 owed in unpaid wages and other bills to Sarah’s former personal assistant, Johnny O’Sullivan.

The deal, orchestrated by Prince Andrew, allowed a wider restructuring of the Duchess’s debts, which were approaching £5million.

Details of Epstein’s generous assistance were uncovered by the media in March 2011, causing embarrassment to the Royal Family.

On March 7, 2011, in the interview with Mr Greig splashed on the front page of the Evening Standard, the duchess made a ‘heartfelt apology’ for accepting Epstein’s cash.

In comments that made headlines around the world, she said: ‘I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me.

‘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 Jeffrey Epstein ever again.’

Castigating her former friend, she added: ‘What he did was wrong and for which he was rightly jailed.’

And, in apparent exasperation, she pledged to cut off all contact with him. ‘I will never have anything to do with him again. I deeply regret it. How many more times do you want me to underline that?’

But weeks later Sarah was privately disavowing her comments in the desperate email to Epstein revealed today.

Writing to her benefactor on April 26, she said: ‘You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.

‘As you know, I did not, absolutely not, say the ‘P word’ [paedophile] about you but understand it was reported that I did.

‘However, I am apologising to you today for not replying to your email or reaching out to you when the tabloids were so horrendous.’

She angrily condemned the media, who she said ‘used me to hurt you beyond realms’, and complained that the controversy over her links to him ‘was the worst nightmare for me’.

Despite emphatically telling the Evening Standard that she would never have anything to do with Epstein again, she apologised for not contacting him sooner, saying: ‘It is unlike me’.

Justifying her lack of contact, she said: ‘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, the Duke and myself

Biographer Andrew Lownie however, said the revelation could lead to publishers and charities severing their ties with the Duchess.

Best known for her Budgie the Helicopter, Little Red and Helping Hand series, Sarah Ferguson has published more than 50 children and young adult books.

In November, she is due to publish Kindness Along The Way, the second book in her new series of Flora & Fen picture books.

She announced the first book of the series last year with a post on Instagram in which she appeared to be standing on the balcony of a luxury Alpine chalet or hotel.

Meanwhile – 14 years after her grovelling email to Epstein – the Duchess also remains heavily involved in children’s charity work.

She chairs Sarah’s Trust, which brings all her charitable causes together, and which says it has supported 1.4 million children around the world.

Last year she launched the Youth Impact Council, which she said would ‘bring together future leaders’ and ‘amplify the voices’ of Gen Z people in the workplace.

Along with her daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, the Duchess is also an honorary patron of the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The bombshell email comes just days after the Duke and Duchess of York were accused of making an ill-judged appearance at the funeral of the Duchess of Kent at Westminster Cathedral.

The scandal-hit pair, both 65, were seen chuckling together and awkwardly attempting to engage other Royals, including the King and Prince William, in conversation.

William was later said to be furious at his uncle’s ‘ambush’.

Andrew has long been tarnished by his associations with Epstein, especially the notorious 2001 photograph of him with his arm around 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, who accused the billionaire of trafficking her.

Sarah Ferguson is believed to have first met Epstein in the 1990s having been introduced by American British businesswoman Lynn Forester de Rothschild, the widow of banking tycoon Sir Evelyn de Rothschild, once one of Britain’s richest men.

In a testimony published last month, Ghislaine Maxwell, the British socialite jailed for 20 years for sex trafficking, described the Duchess as a ‘frenemy’ who lusted after Epstein.

‘She [the Duchess of York] had a thing for him… and I thought that Sarah was trying to put the moves on Jeffrey,’ she said.