Sarah Ferguson's charity to close 'for foreseeable future' after furore over Epstein links
Sarah's Trust has announced it will close shortly after new emails between the former Duchess and Epstein were revealed
Sarah Ferguson's charity has announced it will close amid new revelations over the former Duchess's links to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
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A spokesperson for Sarah's Trust said: "Our chair, Sarah Ferguson, and the board of trustees have agreed that, with regret, the charity will shortly close for the foreseeable future.
"This has been under discussion and in train for some months.
"We remain extremely proud of the work of the trust over recent years. We have partnered with over 60 other charities in over 20 countries, providing education, healthcare, crisis response and environmental projects.
"We delivered over 150,000 aid parcels during the COVID pandemic, provided medical aid and training for those affected by the war in Ukraine and delivered education for over 200 children in Ghana."
The shuttering came after shocking claims made against the former royal in the latest release of the Epstein files.
Read more: Mandelson reported to police over claims he leaked government information to Epstein
Read more: Sarah Ferguson sent congratulations to Epstein on birth of 'baby boy,' leaked email reveals
One such claim is that Sarah took her daughters, Beatrice and Eugenie, to visit convicted paedophile Epstein just five days after he was released from prison following a conviction for child sex offences.
According to emails released by the DoJ, the former Duchess of York went to see the disgraced paedophile alongside princesses Beatrice, then 20, and Eugenie, then 19, in July 2009.
The visit is said to have come less than a week after Epstein was released from prison in Florida, where he served 12 months for soliciting a child for prostitution and was placed under house arrest.
The meeting came to light in a released email sent by Epstein in July 2009 to his then partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, who is herself currently serving a 20-year jail term for sex trafficking.
Epstein wrote: "ferg and the two girls come [sic] yesterday."
The day before, Ms Ferguson allegedly emailed Epstein to arrange the visit, asking: "What address shall we come to. It will be myself, Beatrice and Eugenie. Are we having lunch?"
Documents claim the group met at Epstein's Palm Beach mansion, where the paedophile served vegetable lasagne prepared by a Parisian chef.
The meeting was then brought up again by Epstein over two years later, when he wrote to British lawyer Paul Tweed to complain about Ms Ferguson's failure to defend him publicly following his conviction.
He wrote: "She was the first to celebrate my release with her two daughters in tow. She visited me with [a] policeman sitting at my front desk. She has asked for help with her charities," the Mail on Sunday reports.
It was also earlier revealed that Ms Ferguson offered her "love, friendship and congratulations" to Epstein after he was released from prison in 2011 - and congratulated him on the birth of a "baby boy."
She said she had heard the news from "The Duke," believed to be a reference to her disgraced ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Ferguson's titles were removed last year after more links to Epstein were exposed, including her allegedly calling the paedophile a "supreme friend."
Ms Ferguson and her former husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor were friends with Epstein for more than a decade and in a separate email sent in 2010, she told the late financier: "Just marry me."
Passing on well wishes in regards to the birth of a baby boy, Ms Ferguson said: "Even though you never kept in touch, I am still here with love, friendship and congratulations on your baby boy. Sarah xx."