Content warning: This article references suicide and paedophilia. If you find these topics distressing, help is always available. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit their website. You can also contact the National Domestic Violence Counselling Service by calling 1800 737 732 (1800 RESPECT), or by visiting their website.
Sarah Ferguson allegedly told Jeffrey Epstein to “just marry me”, shocking emails have revealed.
The US Department of Justice released three million additional documents about the disgraced financier and sex offender on January 30.
Epstein served 13 months of an 18-month sentence in Palm Beach County Jail until July 2009 after pleading guilty to state charges of prostitution and soliciting prostitution from someone under 18 in 2008. A decade later, he was awaiting trial on separate sex trafficking and conspiracy charges when he was found dead in August 2019.
New emails have now shed light on Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ex-wife Sarah’s friendship with Epstein, according to the Daily Mail.
In September 2009, shortly after his release from prison, Sarah allegedly brought up the topic of marriage with Esptein in emails, telling him to wed someone with a “great body”.
In the same email, she added, “Ok well marry me and then we will employ her.”
A month before that, she purportedly also thanked him for “being the brother I have always wished for” and said she had “never been more touched by a friend’s kindness”.
Six months after his release from prison, Sarah allegedly praised Epstein in another email sent in January 2010, according to reports.
“You are a legend. 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,” she wrote.
She also invited Epstein to Andrew’s 50th birthday at St James’ Palace in 2010, which he declined in another email to the former Prince’s former private secretary, Amanda Thirsk.
Sarah’s daughter, Princess Eugenie, was also mentioned in an email exchange between the former Duchess of York and the late financier.
The mention came on March 21, 2010, when Epstein asked when the former Duchess of York would be returning to New York.
She purportedly replied, saying she was unsure, but said her youngest daughter was away, on what she jokingly described as a “shagging weekend”.
Sarah and Andrew have repeatedly come under increasing pressure over their links to Epstein, leading to their eviction from the Royal Lodge.
In a 2011 interview with the Evening Standard, Sarah apologised for her friendship with Epstein, saying she had “deep regret” about it.
During the same interview, she also apologised for accepting a £15,000 payment from him, labelling it as a “gigantic error of judgement”.
“I abhor paedophilia and any sexual abuse of children,” she said at the time.
Despite the public statement, the Mail on Sunday published a 2011 email allegedly sent from her to Epstein, which appears to have been sent after she claimed to cut off ties with him.
“You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” the email said, which was released in 2025.
At the time, a spokesperson for Sarah said that it was sent to counter a threat he sent to sue her for defamation.
“This email was sent in the context of advice the duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats,” the statement said.
The fallout also resulted in her being dropped as a patron or ambassador from seven charities.
Before his death, Epstein was arrested in New York in July 2019, on sex trafficking charges on allegations dating back to the early 2000s.
At the time, he pleaded not guilty but was denied bail. That August, he was found deceased in his cell, which was later ruled as death by suicide.
If you find these topics distressing, help is always available. Contact Lifeline on 13 11 14, or visit their website. You can also contact the National Domestic Violence Counselling Service by calling 1800 737 732 (1800 RESPECT), or by visiting their website.
