The Teenage Cancer Trust has dropped Sarah, Duchess of York as patron after 35 years following the disclosure of an email to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in which she described him as a âsupreme friendâ.
Several charities severed ties with the duchess on Monday after it emerged she apologised to the sex offender in April 2011 after publicly disowning him in the media.
In a statement, the Teenage Cancer Trust said: âWe have made the decision to end our relationship with the Duchess of York, and as of today she is no longer a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust.
âWe have communicated this decision to the Duchess. We would like to thank the Duchess of York for her support.â
The charityâs announcement followed similar statements from Wiltshire and Dorset-based childrenâs hospice Juliaâs House, Prevent Breast Cancer, and The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, who all cut ties with the duchess on Monday.
The British Heart Foundation also said the duchess was no longer a serving ambassador for the charity.
Juliaâs House was the first to announce its decision to end its association with the duchess, saying it would be âinappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charityâ â citing her correspondence with Epstein as a deciding factor.
Prevent Breast Cancer, which the duchess became a patron of last year, also announced it was cutting ties with her.
She joined forces with the charity following her own experience with breast cancer in 2023, but a spokeswoman confirmed she was no longer a patron and thanked her for her work.
Food allergy charity The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation also announced it had dropped the duchess as a patron, with the founders saying they were âdisturbedâ to read her correspondence with Epstein.
The charity, which was launched after teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died from a severe allergic reaction to eating a baguette, asked the duchess to become a patron when it was founded in 2019.
In a statement, founders Nadim and Tanya Ednan-Laperouse said: âWe were disturbed to read of Sarah, Duchess of Yorkâs correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein.
âSarah Ferguson has not been actively involved with the charity for some years.
âShe 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.â
A spokeswoman for the British Heart Foundation thanked the duchess for her âsupport for our workâ and for âher past efforts to help us save and improve lives by funding pioneering research into cardiovascular diseaseâ, as the charity also cut ties with her.
The Sun newspaper reported that the duchess âhumbly apologisedâ to Epstein for linking him to paedophilia in the media, describing him as âsteadfastâ and âgenerousâ.
Her spokesman said it was sent âin the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threatsâ.
The email stemmed from an interview with the Evening Standard on March 7, 2011, in which she apologised for accepting ÂŁ15,000 from the sex offender.
During the interview, she told the newspaper: âI 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.
âWhenever I can, I will repay the money and have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.â
A little over a month later, the duchess sent a message to Epstein, in which she said: âI know you feel hellaciously let down by me.
âAnd I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that.
âYou have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.â
It continued: âI was advised in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you.
âAnd if I did â I would cause more problems to you, the Duke and myself. I was broken and lost.
âSo please understand. I didnât want to hurt Andrew one more time. I was in over-riding fear. I am sorry.â
The duchessâs spokesman previously said she had spoken of her regret about her association with Epstein and âdoes not resileâ from condemning him publicly.
He added that Epstein had threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, in the US, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges.
The death was ruled a suicide.
