Sarah Ferguson’s ties to Epstein were exposed in the latest release of the Epstein files (Image: Getty)
For years, she has been the Royal Family’s ultimate survivor – weathering storms, facing financial ruin and dancing on the edge of social exile – but after a week of unedifying revelations, has the door finally been slammed shut, locked and bolted for a humiliated Sarah Ferguson?
The lies, the deception and the vulgaric, crude comments that surfaced in the latest avalanche of documents related to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein gave a darker look at the woman who has maintained her ties to the British Royal Family for over four decades.
Ever since the email in which she called Epstein “a supreme friend” emerged back in September, Ferguson has been invisible – her social media sites neglected, and her Sarah’s Trust charity shut down “for the foreseeable future”.
The only glimpse of her came when she was rushed in to attend the christening of her granddaughter, Athena Mapelli-Mozzi, in a blacked-out Range Rover.
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Sarah Ferguson’s ties to Epstein were a key feature of the files (Image: Getty)
Previous decades have seen Teflon-coated Fergie, 66, emerge from scandals, including the infamous “toe sucking” photograph in France and a cash-for-access sting by the Fake Sheikh. And PR expert Chad Teixeira believes that while the door “is barely open”, the former Duchess may not have given up on the hope of a future return.
“The reality is that public tolerance for anything that appears tone-deaf or dismissive on this subject is extremely low,” he says. “Any attempt to reappear too quickly risks reopening wounds rather than moving the narrative on.
“Silence, in this moment, is not weakness, and in fact a strategy. When a story is this emotionally charged, absence allows public anger to cool, and the worst thing she could do is try to talk her way through it. The public does not want explanations, and it certainly does not want justifications.”
While the last few years saw Sarah burst back onto the scene as a best-selling romantic fiction author and be increasingly welcomed back into the royal fold with appearances alongside the King at Christmas and Easter, those days are now firmly in the past.
Sarah Ferguson joined the Royal Family for Easter last year (Image: Getty)
“It’s a bit of a double blow for her because not only are the Epstein emails that have come out excruciatingly embarrassing, but it’s timed with the release and the success of Andrew Lownie’s book, Entitled,” says PR expert Mark Borkowski. “It’s like every bit of dirty laundry has been hung out to dry, and it gets worse; it’s the drip-drip of reputational damage that she is suffering.”
As charities and publishing houses shake off their associations with Ferguson, many will wonder what her life could look like without basking in the glow of the royal spotlight.
“She is a private citizen and can try her hand at anything she wants, but how easy that will be, given the controversy around her, is unknown,” says Royal Central Editor-in-Chief, Lydia Starbuck. “She no longer has her courtesy title, and her formal links with the Royal Family are over for good. Right now, she’s not in a strong position at all.”
If the Duchess does have anything going for her, continues Starbuck, it is her strong relationship with her two daughters and grandchildren.
Sarah Ferguson has survived numerous scandals (Image: Getty)
“Despite reports that Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are unhappy with the latest revelations around their parents, Sarah has always been close to her children. She has her private family life, and that will remain.”
Among the tranche of latest revelations made public by the Department of Justice last Friday, we see Sarah call Epstein “the brother I have always wished for”, shortly after his release from prison in 2009 for child sex offences.
Just one year later, she called him a “legend” and emailed: “I really don’t have the words to describe, my love, gratitude for your generosity and kindness Xx I am at your service. Just marry me.”
The coarsest comment she made came in March 2010 and focused on her youngest daughter, Princess Eugenie, 35, then 19. After Epstein emailed Sarah to ask about a trip to New York, simply saying, “NY?” Sarah bluntly replied: “Not sure yet. Just waiting for Eugenie to come back from a sha**ing weekend!!” While no other details are shared, it is thought she is referring to a holiday Eugenie took with her now-husband, Jack Brooksbank, 39.
Four months later, she complained to Epstein that she’d been “hung out to dry” and that “no woman has ever left the Royal Family with her head” shortly after she had been caught out by the infamous “fake sheikh” sting, which saw her filmed offering to sell access to her ex-husband for £500,000.
Sarah Ferguson spoke about her daughters in the emails (Image: Getty)
Then, in April 2011, she called Esptein “a supreme friend” – something she called a “gigantic error of judgment” when this detail emerged last year. After she publicly distanced herself from him in an interview, she wrote: “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.”
While being named in the emails does not indicate any wrongdoing, they have certainly not done Ferguson any favours. PR guru Mark Borkowski believes there is no path to rehabilitation for her. “Epstein is just an appalling slur and scar on her reputation, so I don’t think there’s any real way back for her, full stop,” he says.
The closure of her charity, and along with it any other real possibilities of philanthropy, is the final straw, he explains: “While she still had a thread of connection to the throne, there was hope of rehabilitating herself as she was a powerful asset for a number of charities, but now she’s become an anachronistic totem of that time.”
Yet if there is a slim chance of a comeback, he adds, it will be based on “luck” and a total disappearance from public view, focusing on private support for charities.
And with the Epstein scandal set to dog her name forever, Borkowski says there will be no grand return in the UK or the US, “she may find a way to rehabilitate herself somewhere, like one of the Arab states, where she might still have some collateral and be an asset to a charity.”
Sarah Ferguson’s future looks uncertain (Image: Getty)
A move to the US, where Ferguson previously garnered so much attention after her divorce, also sounds unlikely to Starbuck.
“She’s already told her story, and any interview about her friendship with Jeffrey Epstein is a massive risk and one she is unlikely to take,” she says. “But Sarah Ferguson has always been unpredictable, and although her divorce took place 30 years ago, she has maintained a high public profile.
“You’d never bet against Fergie doing something, but I think she must realise that her reputation has been badly damaged and any lingering affection for jokey, goofy Fergie is gone.”
With more drama still to come in the form of the imminent ITV drama, The Lady – which takes a look at Sarah’s relationship with her dresser, Jane Andrews, who murdered her lover while he slept in September 2000 – the interest being pored over every detail of Sarah’s life is far from over.
When celebrities of the past have needed an urgent image makeover, there is one approach they often take – reality TV. But would that work for Sarah?
“It’s hard to imagine her embracing mainstream reality television unless it clearly aligned with her personal narrative,” says Chad. “Although desperate times call for desperate measures. If she were ever to consider it, it would likely be a premium, intelligent format that allowed her wit and humanity to shine, something like the Traitors.”
Sarah Ferguson was approached for comment.