Fergie's relationship with Jeffrey Epstein was 'very, very close': Royal biographer claims disgraced financier paid 'a lot of' her bills - and Duchess stayed friends with him for five YEARS after claiming they'd parted ways

Daily Mail​

a day ago

Sarah Ferguson had a 'very, very close' relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, who paid 'a lot of' her bills, a royal biographer has claimed.
Historian Andrew Lownie, whose explosive new biography of disgraced Prince Andrew, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, was released last week, appeared on Tina Brown's Substack, Fresh Hell, on Tuesday.
In his video chat with the fellow royal author, Mr Lownie discussed how the Duke and Duchess of York allegedly continued their friendship with Epstein after the late financier had been convicted of child sex offences.
Despite Andrew apparently telling friends his infamous trip to see the paedophile multi-millionaire in New York in 2010 was to tell him they could no longer be friends, Mr Lownie claimed the relationship 'went on much longer'.
The royal author also alleged that Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, 'paid a lot of Fergie's (Sarah Ferguson's) bills'.
Mr Lownie published a series of revelations in his book about the finances and alleged infidelity of the Duke and Duchess of York, including 'greedy and needy' Sarah's huge debts. The author claimed the royals even tried to ban the biography.
During his chat with Tina, the historian claimed: 'For Epstein, Andrew provided status, respectability and some useful contacts through his time as special trade envoy.
'In fact, Andrew made sure that Epstein went on some of these trips. Shoe horned him into meetings. And for Andrew, Epstein provided, as you say, girls.
'He provided someone who paid a lot of Fergie's bills and as someone, again, with useful contacts and a jet set life. And Andrew was going through his mid life crisis about the time that he really got very friendly with Epstein.
Mr Lownie said someone described the pair's relationship 'like that between a rattlesnake and a mouse' but added that the friendship 'went on much longer than it should have done'.
'I mean, not just after Epstein went to prison, but after 2010 when [Prince Andrew] claimed to have said goodbye, both he and Fergie continued to see Epstein,' alleged the author.
Mr Lownie claimed the couple were still linked to the disgraced financier 'five years after this thing is supposed to have stopped'.
He continued: 'And no one has really looked at Sarah's relationship with Epstein, which was very, very close.'
It's been reported that Epstein paid £15,000 of Fergie's bills, however, the author suggested that the figure is rumoured to be significantly more. It's understood that the Duchess denies this.
Further discussing the Duchess of York, Lownie revealed how she was described as 'greedy and needy', adding: 'I think those two things have not helped Andrew. I mean, I think he went into the Epstein relationship, partly to fund his wife, ex-wife.'
MailOnline has contacted Sarah Ferguson's representatives for comment.
Based on four years of painstaking research and hundreds of interviews, the new biography of Prince Andrew lays bare his lofty ambitions, thirst for wealth and hedonistic life.
The Duke of York had a controversial friendship with paedophile Epstein, who once declared: 'We are both serial sex addicts. He's the only person I have met who is more obsessed with p***y than me'.
Mr Lownie said Andrew 'was apparently a sex addict long before he came into Epstein's orbit'.
'He was called Randy Andy, even at school. He's clearly highly sexed. Various numbers have been quoted at me ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 women that he slept with.
'He was good looking, he was a prince and women threw themselves at him. He was a notch on their bedpost and he took advantage of that'.
Mr Lownie believes he was unfaithful to Sarah on a number of occasions, but so was she.
'There are allegations that both of them had affairs pretty early in the marriage', he said.
Mr Lownie's new book claimed Fergie had extramarital affairs with American Steve Wyatt and his friend John Bryan.
Entitled: The Rise And Fall of The House Of York by Andrew Lownie has been serialised by the Daily Mail
There were also allegations that Andrew slept with 'more than a dozen women' during the first year of their marriage.
The author wrote: 'Friends say Andrew accepted his wife's infidelities and that his marriage was over.
'He would dine alone off a tray in his study while Sarah and one of her lovers ate together elsewhere in the house. Sarah, however, was jealous of any of Andrew's girlfriends.
'She wanted to remain "The One", with all the perks that brought, and girlfriends were invariably despatched through a mixture of charm and ruthlessness.'
Mr Lownie has claimed the royals tried to ban his book, saying he received letters 'threatening to sue me, before a word of the manuscript had been seen'.
Andrew and Fergie divorced in 1996 but still live together at Royal Lodge in Windsor.