Over the weekend, Sarah Ferguson’s bonkers email to Jeffrey Epstein (sent in 2011) was published in the Mail. Fergie apologized to Epstein for publicly cutting ties with him and bad-mouthing him, and she poured on the flattery in an attempt to dissuade Epstein from suing her. I thought this was going to end up as yet another story where we learned something new about Fergie or Prince Andrew’s depravity and nothing happened. But something is happening this time – seven charities have cut their ties with Sarah, and there are renewed and widespread calls for King Charles to punish the Yorks. Some of those calls are coming from within the family. That’s right, Prince William is still rage-briefing, this time about the Yorks (and of course, there’s yet another attempt to connect the Yorks and the Sussexes).
Prince William and his father are at odds over whether to banish Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew over their friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, a royal source has told the Daily Mail. King Charles doesn’t want to completely disown the Duchess of York and his brother because he they have been loyal to him and the Crown – unlike Harry and Meghan. But the more hardline Prince of Wales considers his uncle and aunt to be ‘pair of chancers’ and had enough of them long before the Duchess of York’s latest scandal.
‘William’s face as he stood next to Andrew at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral said it all’, an insider said. However, for now, Charles is said to not want to cut all ties to ensure his sister-in-law doesn’t go rogue like the Sussexes – and respect the wishes of his late mother the Queen. But he will likely immediately ban the divorced couple from appearing in public with the Royal Family at events such as Christmas. He may also finally evict them from Royal Lodge, their Windsor mansion, which William is said to be demanding as a minimum.
‘The difference between the Yorks and the Sussexes is that Andrew and Fergie have never publicly criticised the monarchy or the King. Andrew’s friends say that even in private they’ve never heard him say a bad word about his brother’, the Mail’s royal source said. ‘The King doesn’t want to cut ties with his brother, former sister-in-law and that side of the family. 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’.
But the monarch faces a battle with Prince William who will be ‘urging’ his father to take the chance to cut them loose and kick them out of their 30-bedroom home close to Windsor Castle. William has his eye on the future of the Royal Family and for the good of the family they must never be seen at events again, the Mail’s insider has said.
‘William feels even more strongly than the King that Andrew and Fergie are an embarrassment and will be urging his father to act’, the source claimed. ‘The optics of that pair of chancers guffawing away [at events] look terrible’.
The Prince of Wales is said to want them out of the Royal Lodge to fend for themselves. Andrew has reportedly refused to move to the much smaller Frogmore Cottage.
The royal source has suggested the Palace may advise Sarah Ferguson to do a mea culpa interview.
‘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 source said. ‘The Duchess of York can be extraordinarily charming. So I’m sure she will be backpedalling furiously. But this latest scandal threatens her ability to earn money as well as her charity patronages. Who can say what effect that will have on the Yorks’ ability to afford the costs of staying at Royal Lodge, where they live at opposite ends of the (30-room) house?’
“The Prince of Wales is said to want them out of the Royal Lodge to fend for themselves.” Like… Charles has tried. Andrew has a valid lease with the Crown Estates, and Andrew also has a stash of money to pay for Royal Lodge’s upkeep. How Andrew got that money, no one really knows, but he does have money. He’s not dependent on Fergie’s income. If Andrew is evicted, he’ll sue or make a big stink about it too. Which is the real reason why Charles has never gone too hard on the Yorks – Andrew knows too much, and it would be mutually-assured destruction. Does William realize that? Does William realize that if the Yorks are completely cut off, they’ll start talking because there won’t be anything holding them back?
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
