Charles & William Clashing Over ‘Cutting Ties’ With Fergie After Her ‘Embarrassing’ Epstein Email Leak—The ‘Optics’ Are ‘Terrible’
Prince William may be one step closer to banishing Prince Andrew and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson. After the Duchess of York’s emails to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein leaked, the heir is taking more precautions to keep controversy out of the royal family, but King Charles has other ideas.
“William feels even more strongly than The King that Andrew and Fergie are an embarrassment and will be urging his father to act,” a source told the Daily Mail about the situation. “The optics of that pair of chancers guffawing away [at events] look terrible.”
However, Charles is more empathetic towards what happened. “The King doesn’t want to cut ties with his brother, former sister-in-law and that side of the family,” the insider continued, adding that his mother gave the family grace after their divorce and controversy. “The late Queen, conscious that Fergie was the mother of her granddaughters, always took that view, even if Prince Philip couldn’t bear to be in the same room as Sarah.”
“I think there’s plenty more to come out yet about Epstein and Andrew. Perhaps the Royal Household should be thinking about pre-empting it all by coming clean?” the insider revealed. Though Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview made his reputation more notorious, the source thinks that an interview where Fergie can clear things up would be more successful. “The Duchess of York can be extraordinarily charming. So I’m sure she will be backpedalling furiously,”
The royal source also revealed that Charles “will likely immediately ban” Andrew and Fergie from walking with the Royal Family on Christmas Day and other events. “He may also finally evict them from Royal Lodge, their Windsor mansion, which William is said to be demanding as a minimum,” the source said.
The emails, obtained by The Sun and The Mail on Sunday, allegedly read, “You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” she wrote in the message, adding that she “was advised in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you.” Several charities have dropped the Duchess of York as a patron such as The Teenage Cancer Trust, Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Children’s Literacy Charity, National Foundation for Retired Service Animals, and Prevent Breast Cancer.
A rep for Sarah Ferguson responded to the email claims to People: “The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been her first thoughts are with his victims. Like many people, she was taken in by his lies. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia. She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”
