Sarah Ferguson's Comments on Royal Women in Messages to Jeffrey Epstein

Writing to the sex offender in the aftermath of a damaging tabloid sting and intense media scrutiny, the disgraced royal portrayed herself as isolated, unsupported by the Palace, and facing what she believed was an orchestrated effort to discredit her beyond repair.

Newly released documents have shed fresh light on the private communications between Sarah Ferguson and late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, revealing a series of emotionally charged messages.

In the exchanges, the former Duchess of York expressed a bleak view of women's treatment within the Royal Family and portrayed herself as isolated, financially exposed, and facing what she described as public extermination.

The files, made public on February 2, 2026, include emails sent in July 2010 in which Sarah told Jeffrey that "no woman has ever left the Royal Family with her head."

The remark was made as she grappled with the fallout from a damaging tabloid sting, mounting debts, and intense media scrutiny that she believed the Palace and its advisers were unwilling or unable to contain.

In a lengthy response, she claimed that the British press was preparing to destroy her and that institutional safeguards had failed.

The correspondence places her comments firmly within a period of crisis. In May 2010, Sarah had been filmed by an undercover reporter, apparently agreeing to accept money in return for access to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the former Duke of York.

The footage sparked widespread condemnation and renewed questions about her finances, which she had already discussed publicly in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey earlier that year.

At the same time, British multinational services PricewaterhouseCoopers had been engaged to audit her financial affairs.

Against that backdrop, Sarah turned repeatedly to Jeffrey, whom she portrayed as a source of emotional reassurance, practical support, and financial assistance. In one email sent in July 2010, she appeared distressed by a lack of response from him, writing:

"Have you died on me? Don't.. Please you are my pillar."

The message conveyed a dependence that went beyond casual friendship, framing Jeffrey as a central figure at a moment when she felt abandoned by others.

He replied the following day, asking whether she still required accommodation for a second week. Sarah confirmed that she did, but said events had overtaken her plans.

In a lengthy response, she claimed that the British press was preparing to destroy her and that institutional safeguards had failed.

She wrote that "the british press is ready to exterminate me," adding that PricewaterhouseCoopers and "the palace system" were "not equipped" to deal with what she described as an overwhelming wave of negative attention.

"I have to return to the uk, and be exterminated and face the thunderous music," she typed, later adding that she was "1000 percent being hung out to dry."

Sarah also suggested that exile by the press was unavoidable, stating, "I am totally on my own now. This is beyond scandalous and nobody can do anything."

Meanwhile, the documents show that Jeffrey was not merely a confidant but also a financial benefactor.

The emails repeatedly framed her situation as a public trial. She said she would have to "face my judge and jury and be hung yet again," language that underscored her sense of grievance and her belief that she was being singled out for relentless humiliation.

It was within this exchange that Sarah made her striking claim about women and royal life. "Just as I always said, no woman has ever left the royal family with her head," she wrote.

She went on to suggest that while she could not be "behead[ed]," she would instead be discredited "totally to obliteration." The message ended with a note of despair that read, "I have no words."

Meanwhile, the documents show that Jeffrey was not merely a confidant but also a financial benefactor. He reportedly provided £15,000 to help settle Sarah's debts, including money owed to her former aide Johnny O'Sullivan.

At the time, the payment enabled her to ease immediate financial pressure and restructure liabilities reported to total £5 million.

Sarah would later publicly acknowledge that accepting the money had been a serious mistake, describing it as a "gigantic error" of judgment. However, the newly released files demonstrate that, privately, she expressed deep gratitude for Jeffrey's help and continued to seek his advice.

In multiple emails, she thanked him profusely for assisting her with business contacts and opportunities. Her language was effusive and intensely personal. She described him as a "legend" and as "the brother I have always wished for." In one message sent in 2010, she wrote:

"Just marry me."

The tone of the correspondence has drawn renewed scrutiny in light of Jeffrey's criminal history. The documents indicate that Sarah visited him just five days after his release from a Florida prison, where he had served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from girls as young as 14.

Despite her private reliance on Jeffrey, Sarah attempted to publicly distance herself from him the following year. In an interview published on March 7, 2011, she apologised for having accepted the £15,000 and said she abhorred paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children.

She stated that she intended to repay the money and vowed never to have anything to do with him again. However, the files show that this public stance was followed by a very different private exchange.

On April 26, 2011, just over a month after the interview, Sarah emailed Jeffrey from her personal account to apologise for having linked him to paedophilia. "As you know I did not, absolutely not, say the P word about you," she wrote. In the same email, she offered a grovelling apology, telling him:

"I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. And I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that."

She went on to praise him as a "steadfast, generous and supreme friend" to her and her family. Sarah explained that she had been "bedridden with fear" and "paralysed," saying she had been advised not to contact him because doing so could cause further problems for herself, Andrew, and others.

A close friend later said Sarah sent the email after being threatened with aggressive legal action by Jeffrey, who was said to be furious that she had publicly condemned him. According to the friend, she felt she had no choice but to attempt to appease him in the hope that the threats would stop.

Another email from January 22, 2011, sent after Jeffrey's payment to Sarah's former aide, further illustrated the closeness of their relationship at the time.

Jeffrey was then arrested again in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking offences that carried a potential sentence of up to 45 years in prison.

"How can I thank you enough?" she wrote. "You are a friend indeed and one day I will give it to you back." She added, "Sometimes the heart speaks better than the words. You have my heart." The message was signed "S xxx."

The revelations form part of a wider examination of Jeffrey's relationships with figures connected to the Royal Family, particularly Andrew. Jeffrey was a long-time associate of the former Duke and continued to communicate with him after his 2009 conviction.

In fact, in December 2010, the financier was photographed walking through Central Park in New York with the now disgraced former prince.

However, in his 2019 "Newsnight" interview, Andrew said he had ended his friendship with the sex offender in December 2010, insisting that he travelled to see him in person because ending the relationship over the phone would have been "the chicken's way of doing it."

Jeffrey was then arrested again in July 2019 and charged with sex trafficking offences that carried a potential sentence of up to 45 years in prison. He was remanded into custody but was found dead in his New York prison cell a month later.

In the end, the newly released files do not alter the legal outcome of Jeffrey's case. However, they do provide a detailed and unsettling portrait of the extent to which Sarah Ferguson relied on him.

The files paint a vivid portrait of one of the most damaging periods of her public life and of the bleak conclusions she privately drew about power, reputation, and survival for women on the fringes of the Royal Family.