Charities end links with 'Fergie', UK's Duchess of York, over Epstein email

LONDON (Reuters) -Several charities said on Monday they had cut their links with Sarah Ferguson, Britain's Duchess of York, after media reports that she had described the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein as a "supreme friend" in an email.

According to the Sun on Sunday newspaper, Ferguson, 65, the ex-wife of King Charles' brother, Prince Andrew, sent the message to Epstein in 2011, weeks after giving an interview in which she said she would never contact him again.

Epstein had pleaded guilty in 2008 to a state prostitution charge in Florida and agreed to register as a sex offender.

The Sun said Ferguson, often known by the nickname "Fergie", had emailed the disgraced financier to apologise for her comments and say he had always been a steadfast friend to her and her family.

Ferguson's spokesperson declined to comment on the charities' action, having previously said that she sent the email to Epstein because she wanted to counter the threat that he might sue her for defamation.

On Monday, at least five charities said the duchess could no longer continue as one of their patrons.

"We were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of York’s, correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein," Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse, the founders of one of the charities, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, said in a statement. 

"She was a patron but, in the light of the recent revelations, we have taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue to be associated with the charity."

The reputation of the duchess' former husband, Prince Andrew, was destroyed largely by his friendship with Epstein. 

In 2022, Andrew was stripped of most of his titles and removed from royal duties due to his connections to the financier, while firms and charities also distanced themselves from him.

(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Barbara Lewis)