More bad news for Andrew and Sarah: The Sun and Daily Mail have an email that Sarah, Duchess of York wrote to Jeffrey Epstein after she publicly said she’d cut off her relationship with the convicted pedophile.
As a result, at least six organizations and charities have cut their relationship with Sarah.
The background:
In early 2011, the nexus between the Yorks and Jeffrey Epstein exploded in the media when the now defunct News of the World published the now infamous image of Prince Andrew strolling with Jeffrey Epstein through Central Park in New York in December 2010. At that point, the financier had been a convicted pedophile for two years.
Shortly after that story hit the news, another story broke involving Sarah and Epstein involving money. At the time, she was again heavily in debt and desperate for any way to pay it off. (In May 2010, she was caught by News of the World allegedly selling access to her husband, then the British special representative for international trade and investment; in July 2011, Andrew had to resign from his position.)
In March 2011, she did an interview with the Evening Standard in which she revealed that Epstein paid a reported 15,000 pounds in unpaid wages and other expenses to one of her former personal assistants. After that revelation, Prince Andrew’s ex-wife was forced to distance herself from the convicted pedophile
In that March 2011 interview, she publicly apologized.
As the Daily Mail quotes her statement from March 7, 2011:
I personally, on behalf of myself, deeply regret that Jeffrey Epstein became involved in any way with me. I 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. Whenever I can I will repay the money and will have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.
I cannot state more strongly that I know a terrible, terrible error of judgment was made, my having anything to do with Jeffrey Epstein.
…
I will never have anything to do with him again. I deeply regret it… My whole life is charity and children’s books and I just did not think this through. I did not see the ramifications I was so intent on being clear of my debt
In April 2011, she apologized to her “dear friend” Jeffrey Epstein for her public apology a few weeks earlier.
As the Daily Mail quotes the email from April 26, 2011:
I know you feel hellaciously let down by me from what you were either told or read and I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that.
…
You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family. As you know, I did not, absolutely not, say the “P word” [paedophile] about you but understood it was reported that I did…
I was advised, in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you and if I did I would cause more problems for you, the Duke and myself….
….and I was instructed to act with the utmost speed if I would have any chance of holding on to my career as a children’s book author and a children’s philanthropist.
In the meantime, I write this from the truth of my heart.
Sarah’s people told the Mail that she sent that April 2011 message because Epstein had threatened to sue her.
The fallout
On Monday, charities and organizations began breaking their ties with Sarah:
Julia’s House children’s hospice
Teenage Cancer Trust
Prevent Breast Cancer
Natasha Allergy Research Foundation
Children’s Literacy Charity
National Foundation for Retired Service Animals
British Heart Foundation
My analysis
Sarah comes across as a duplicitous grifter who will say anything to keep money flowing into her bank account.
That there are likely even more emails involving Sarah, Andrew, and Epstein that will be released in coming days means that this scandal isn’t going away. Expect the drip, drip of scandal to ratchet up pressure for the King to even further isolate the couple within the royal family. It comes days after Prince William froze out his uncle when he attempted to talk to him in front of cameras after the Duchess of Kent’s funeral
King Charles personally presented a birthday card to the world’s oldest person, Ethel Caterham, who turned 116 last month. The video is a delight (click on the Instagram post below).
Multiple media outlets, including the Sun, are reporting on possible / likely upcoming state visits:
In date order
1. Vatican City:
In October, King Charles III and Queen are expected to go to the Vatican to see Pope Leo. That part of their trip to Italy and the Vatican in April was postponed because of the declining health of the late Pope Francis. (The regal couple met privately with the pontiff.)
2. Another state visit to the U.K.
Though there have already been two state visits to the United Kingdom this year, a third could occur this fall. The likeliest candidate is Germany. It’s rare to have three state visits in one year but these are unusual times.
3. United States
It is widely expected that the King and Queen will visit the United States next year for the 250th anniversary of American independence, just as Elizabeth II visited for the bicentennial.
This last trip will be tricky because, in their roles as King and Queen of Canada, the couple also need to undertake a major visit to Canada (tentatively scheduled in 2024, it has been delayed due to the King’s health and elections in Canada). Normally monarchs visit Canada, then go onto the U.S., though the rules can change for major tours. Regardless, tensions will still be high between Canada and the United States in 2026 and any tour that doesn’t take Canada into consideration could be a flashpoint.
The compare and contrast between the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and the Prince and Princess of Wales were on display. While William and Kate were at a white-tie-and-tiara state dinner, the Sussexes were back in public view for the first time since Harry’s visit to see his father in London:
They attended Kevin Costner’s annual emergency services fundraiser
Meghan posted an image of her tending a strawberry pot in an Instagram story
Harry and Meghan were featured in an ABC special about the 70th anniversary of Disneyland, including showing parts of the video of their entire family at Disneyland in June for Lilibet’s fourth birthday (ABC is owned by Disney). I watched the special – the couple appeared for around one minute roughly 80 minutes into the show.
Martin Jennings will create the sculpture for the Elizabeth II memorial to be installed in St. James’s Park, across from Buckingham Palace. He’s got the experience of creating major royal images. He designed the first “coin portrait” of Charles III and has done a bust of the Queen Mother.
The next step is to have the final design of the entire memorial area presented to the King and Prime Minister next year, which is the 100th anniversary of the late Queen’s birth.
That brand new Netflix series, Royal Rebels, featuring the King’s daughter, Märtha Louise and her American shaman husband, is No. 1 in Norway. Now, there are calls to strip the princess of all remaining royal titles and affiliations because the documentary delves deeply into their contentious relationship with her family, a clear violation of the agreements between the royal house and Märtha Louise when she decided to pursue commercial ventures full-time that included specific language that she was not to use her royal affiliation in those ventures.
“Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett’s participation in the production is a breach of the agreement with the Royal House,” the Royal Court’s Gujri Varpe informed a Norwegian TV station. As royal historian Trond Noren Isaksen stated on Instagram:
Palace says in a statement sent to several news outlets. “As we have communicated before, the Royal House had not wished to contribute to this production”, it goes on to say. “Everyone has the right to tell their stories. This also applies to Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett. At the same time, the Royal House desires a clearer separation between Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett’s activities and the Royal House. This will be the topic of the conversations we will have going forward.”
If that weren’t enough, Crown Princess Mette-Marit is off for a month as she deals with a chronic pulmonary issue after her son by a previous relationship awaits trial on sexual assault charges.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source writeroyalty.substack.com ’
