Lizzie Cundy appeared on The Jeremy Vine Show today to defend her friend Sarah Ferguson as pressure mounts on Prince Andrew’s ex-wife to be stripped of her titles over her emails to late paedophile Jeffrey Epstein

A friend of Sarah Ferguson has revealed Prince Andrew’s ex-wife is “devastated” and “in hell” after being dropped by multiple charities in the wake of her latest scandal.

The Teenage Cancer Trust has dropped the Duchess of York as patron after 35 years following the disclosure of an email to paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in which she described him as a “supreme friend”.

Several charities severed ties with the duchess on Monday after it emerged she apologised to the sex offender in April 2011 after publicly disowning him in the media.

Speaking on The Jeremy Vine Show this morning, Lizzie Cundy opened up about her friend’s current state of mind and revealed she had spoken to her via her assistant since the news broke over the weekend.

Sarah Ferguson ‘devastated’ and ‘in hell’ after charity axe ( 
Image:
TOPSTAR / BACKGRID)

Cundy said Ferguson is in a “terrible way” at the moment and has deep regrets over being friends with Epstein. “I’m afraid, he is a toxic person – even from the grave,” she commented.

While there have been calls for Sarah to be stripped of her Duchess of York title, Cundy believes that the royal should “lay low” and “let this die down”. She said: “This is a shock, but he was so aggressive, so unpleasant, I think if anyone, if you thought your family could get hurt and bring your family down, what would you do?”

“The fact is when she did condemn him, which she did publicly, it got very nasty. He got huge lawyers onto her as well. She thought she was going to be embarrassed, not only her own family but the rest of the Royal Family,” Cundy said when trying to defend her pal.

When MP Dawn Butler asked whether a private email would have been enough to resolve the matter, questioning why Ferguson would be scared of legal action from a convicted sex offender, Cundy mused: “She felt she could calm the situation by trying to appease him. Kind of saying ‘Look, I didn’t actually call you a paedophile,’ I said ‘paedophilia is abhorrent’, that’s what she said, she was trying to calm him and stroke his ego.”

“Sarah is absolutely devastated about losing the charities,” Cundy also shared on the Channel 5 show. “Especially the cancer one, herself had a cancer diagnosis recently, She’s absolutely devastated. She’s a human being, a mother, she’s going through hell.”

In a statement, the Teenage Cancer Trust said: “We have made the decision to end our relationship with the Duchess of York, and as of today she is no longer a patron of Teenage Cancer Trust. We have communicated this decision to the Duchess. We would like to thank the Duchess of York for her support.”

Ferguson called Epstein ‘a supreme friend’ ( 
Image:
New York State Sex Offender Regi)
The charity’s announcement followed similar statements from Wiltshire and Dorset-based children’s hospice Julia’s House, Prevent Breast Cancer, and The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, who all cut ties with the duchess on Monday. The British Heart Foundation also said the duchess was no longer a serving ambassador for the charity.

Julia’s House was the first to announce its decision to end its association with the duchess, saying it would be “inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity” – citing her correspondence with Epstein as a deciding factor.

Prevent Breast Cancer, which the duchess became a patron of last year, also announced it was cutting ties with her. She joined forces with the charity following her own experience with breast cancer in 2023, but a spokeswoman confirmed she was no longer a patron and thanked her for her work.

Food allergy charity The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation also announced it had dropped the duchess as a patron, with the founders saying they were “disturbed” to read her correspondence with Epstein.

The charity, which was launched after teenager Natasha Ednan-Laperouse died from a severe allergic reaction to eating a baguette, asked the duchess to become a patron when it was founded in 2019.

The resurfaced email from Ferguson to Epstein stemmed from an interview with the Evening Standard on March 7, 2011, in which she apologised for accepting £15,000 from the sex offender.

Ferguson remains close to her ex-husband, Prince Andrew ( 
Image:
PA)During the interview, she told the newspaper: “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.”

A little over a month later, Ferguson sent a message to Epstein, in which she said: “I know you feel hellaciously let down by me. And I must humbly apologise to you and your heart for that. You have always been a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family.”

It continued: “I was advised in no uncertain terms, to have nothing to do with you and to not speak or email you. And if I did — I would cause more problems to you, the Duke and myself. I was broken and lost. So please understand. I didn’t want to hurt Andrew one more time. I was in over-riding fear. I am sorry.”

Ferguson’s spokesman previously said she had spoken of her regret about her association with Epstein and “does not resile” from condemning him publicly. He added that Epstein had threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia.

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.