Prince Andrew former wife Sarah Ferguson link to Espstein case

Former Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson lost the honour of the freedom of the city of York on Thursday via unanimous council vote.

City of York councillors voted to remove Sarah Ferguson's Freedom of the City title due to her ties to Jeffrey Epstein. Revoked under Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, Ferguson gained the title along with an Honorary Freeman status in 1987, shortly after she married Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.

York Council Strips Sarah Ferguson's Honorary Freedom

'Honorary freedom is bestowed only on persons of distinction and those having given eminent services to the city of York,' the council's Labour leader Claire Douglas said about the decision. 'As the people of York would expect, holding this status requires upholding the values and behaviours consistent with such an honour.'

'Those who continued to associate with Epstein after his crimes became widely known fall well short of these expectations,' Douglas added. Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of the same title in 2022, following allegations that he sexually abused Virginia Giuffre when she was a teenager.

The council passed the motion after new revelations surfaced about Ferguson's connection to disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein. Charged for soliciting a minor for prostitution in 2008, Epstein pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal, and served 13 months in jail with work release. Arrested and indicted for new sex trafficking charges in July 2019, Epstein was found dead one month later in his New York jail cell.

Sarah Ferguson's Epstein Connection Questioned

Ferguson's name, mentioned several times in the Epstein files, does not indicate any wrongdoing. Liberal Democrat Darryl Smalley, who previously motioned to remove Andrew's honorary title in 2022, explained why he wanted the same for Ferguson.

'At the time, it felt wrong to judge someone by the actions of their ex-husband,' he said, per a Sky News report. '[But] we now know, following the release of thousands of documents, that Sarah Ferguson, too, had a close friendship with Epstein, which continued well beyond his conviction.'

'We don't expect the recipients of York's highest honour to be saints,' he added. 'We simply do not want them to be best friends of convicted paedophiles.'

Uncovered messages in the Epstein files suggest the latter was corresponding with Ferguson, even after his 2008 conviction. One email exchange suggests Epstein paid for the plane tickets Ferguson and her daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, used to visit him in Miami in July 2009, less than one week after he left prison.

Sarah Ferguson Called Jeffrey Epstein a 'Brother' in Uncovered Email

Ferguson also referred to Epstein as 'the brother I have always wished for' in an August 2009 email about her brand's partnerships and the Mother Army project, which advocates for building local safety chapters for women, girls and children through community support. 'I have never been more touched by a friend's kindness than your compliment to me in front of my girls,' Ferguson also wrote.

'I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me,' Ferguson told the London Evening Standard in 2012. 'I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children and know that this was a gigantic error of judgment on my behalf.'

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