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The Duchess of York allegedly sent an email apologising to disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein after he threatened to “destroy her” in a “Hannibal Lecter-style” phone call, according to reports.
Sarah Ferguson sent the message in April 2011, describing Epstein as a “supreme friend”, after she had publicly disowned him in the media.
James Henderson, her spokesperson at the time, said the email was sent after a “really menacing and nasty” phone call from the sex offender, in which he had a “Hannibal Lecter-type voice”, the Telegraph reported.
Henderson said that Epstein was incensed by her description of him as a paedophile and made a “chilling” phone call in which he threatened to take legal action, the paper said.
Several charities severed ties with the duchess, 65, on Monday after the emergence of her email.
Her apology to Epstein followed an interview published in the Evening Standard in March 2011 in which she said that she had made a “terrible, terrible error of judgment” in accepting £15,000 from the financier, a convicted sex offender, to pay off her debts, adding: “I abhor paedophilia.”
In her apology email to Epstein, reported by the Sun, she described him as a “steadfast, generous and supreme friend”. She also “humbly apologised” for criticising him in public and told him she was aware “you feel hellaciously let down by me”.
Describing the phone call that prompted the email, Henderson told the Telegraph: “People don’t understand how terrible Epstein was. I can remember everything about that call.
“It was a chilling call and I’m surprised anybody was ever friends with him given the way he talked to me.
“He said he would destroy the York family and he was quite clear on that. He said he would destroy me. He wasn’t shouting. He had a Hannibal Lecter-type voice. It was very cold and calm and really menacing and nasty.
He added: “The pressure she was put under to protect her family must have been huge. I am sure there were legal actions.
“And this was long before the duke’s life had been ruined by his association with Epstein. It was 14 years ago and everyone will do what they have to do to protect their family. Her family and children will always come first for her.”
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Henderson has been contacted for comment.
Ferguson had told the Evening Standard in her 2011 interview: “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 have nothing ever to do with Jeffrey Epstein ever again.”
Among the organisations to end their relationships with the duchess after the 2011 email came to light this week was the Teenage Cancer Trust, which dropped her as patron after 35 years.
Similar announcements came from the Wiltshire and Dorset-based children’s hospice Julia’s House, Prevent Breast Cancer, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation and the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals, which all cut ties with the duchess on Monday. The British Heart Foundation also said Ferguson was no longer a serving ambassador for the charity.
Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan, in the US, in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex-trafficking charges. The death was ruled a suicide.
