The Duchess of York has so far been the great survivor of the royal world, bouncing back from embarrassments that would have sunk many others.
But she is now mired in a deep scandal about her connection with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein that seems much harder to resolve.
Charity patronages are falling off her like autumn leaves, with seven charities no longer wanting to be associated with her as their patron or ambassador.
She’s an author of Mills and Boon books now, in one of her many entrepreneurial ventures, but she will struggle to write herself a happy ending. And the efforts she’s made to return to the royal fold could now go into reverse.
This latest PR disaster for Sarah Ferguson follows the publication of an email she sent to Epstein in 2011, in which she called him her “supreme friend” and said she wanted to “humbly apologise” for publicly rejecting him and knew Epstein would “feel hellaciously let down by me”.
Her apology was because a few weeks before she had denounced him in an interview, saying it had been a “gigantic error of judgement” to have had dealings with him and vowed to “have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again”.
It’s not a good look, even with her spokesperson’s explanation that she was trying to “assuage” Epstein after he threatened to sue her for defamation. Heading off the lawyers wouldn’t usually mean such an emotional appeal to “you and your heart”.
It was serious enough for a charity that had been associated with her for 35 years, the Teenage Cancer Trust, to sever its connections.
During that time, she had separated from her husband Prince Andrew, been photographed having her toes sucked by a US financial adviser and caught in a tabloid sting offering access to her ex-husband for an alleged £500,000.
More recently a damning book by Andrew Lownie, Entitled, had painted her in a brutally unflattering light as someone caught up in a loop of debt, excessive spending and then risky attempts to raise money.
But Sarah Ferguson – invariably known as Fergie – has survived all that. Her fallibility has been part of her likeability. She is good with people, with an outgoing friendliness and sense of fun, which is why charities have previously wanted her as an ally.
Like that famously terrible It’s a Royal Knockout game show from 1987, she seemed to have a knack of being unceremoniously knocked off life’s ladders but still being able to climb back up again.
She didn’t get an invitation to the coronation of her ex-brother-in-law, but didn’t moan about it. Then she appeared to be back in the fold, when in 2023 she was invited for a royal Christmas at Sandringham, her first time there in decades.
The following Christmas there was more royal approval for her, with grateful murmurings from the Palace that she had helped persuade Prince Andrew to stay away from family events, in the wake of his involvement in a Chinese spy scandal.
She had also gained public respect for her energetic efforts encouraging women to get checks, after her own breast cancer diagnosis and operation.
But now this latest problem is causing profound problems. There couldn’t be a more toxic connection than with Epstein and it is going to be particularly difficult for her when so much of her charity work was associated with children.
As a children’s author, there must be a risk her brand is going to be damaged by the Epstein link.
The whole Epstein story is like a spreading oil spill, and both the duke and duchess of York must be wondering what might appear next.
There have already been claims that the King and the Royal Family will exclude the duchess from even more events.
But Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson are already not allowed to attend official royal events – and there doesn’t seem to be any suggestion they would be barred from family gatherings, such as funerals or church services.
Both were there as mourners at Westminster Cathedral for last week’s funeral of the Duchess of Kent.
What seems to be one certainty is that Prince Andrew and Sarah will stay together, living in some style in Royal Lodge, Prince Andrew’s Windsor home, no longer married, but holding hands as they sink in the reputational quicksand.
