Here’s What Sarah Ferguson’s Involvement in the Epstein Scandal Means for Her and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
No matter how much certain powerful people might want them to, the Epstein files aren’t going away, and each revelation seems to be uglier and more disturbing than the last. Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal title in the fall and is now known as commoner Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor. He was also evicted from his home and briefly arrested as a result, though, at least for now, the charges stem from sharing sensitive data about the British government, not sex trafficking.
The plot thickened even further when the Epstein files revealed that Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, also had a close relationship with the convicted sex offender. So where does that leave Fergie and the couple’s daughters, princesses Beatrice and Eugenie? Will they be ostracized by the royal family too? And might arrests be on the table?
We asked royal biographer Andrew Lownie, author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, to shed some light on the possible scenarios. Here’s what really went down between Fergie and Epstein, and what could happen next.
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Just how close were Sarah Ferguson and Jeffrey Epstein?
Shockingly close. In a series of emails the two exchanged after 2008 (after Epstein had been convicted for soliciting a minor for prostitution), Fergie called Epstein a “legend” and “the brother I have always wished for,” raved about his “generosity” and “kindness,” and at one point even suggested he should marry her. She also told Epstein about her daughter Eugenie’s “shagging weekend” and begged to be his “house assistant,” saying she was “most capable” and “desperately” needed the money.
“The relationship between Fergie and Epstein was much closer than people realized. It began much earlier than assumed, and it went on after she claimed publicly to have broken with him in February 2011. She still stayed in his properties in 2015,” says Lownie. “She was also the first person to see him when he came out of prison. It was a very, very close relationship.”
In even more explosive allegations, Lownie claims that Fergie and Epstein had a sexual relationship and that she was given around 2 million pounds, adding that Fergie provided access to high-profile figures in the royal family and beyond while getting to keep her lavish lifestyle in return.
What has happened to Fergie since this information came to light?
Fergie’s life as she knew it has fallen apart. “She’d had an awful lot of companies, and they have all been wound up, her charities have all disassociated themselves from her, and her book contracts have been canceled,” says Lownie. “She’s been cut loose from the royal family permanently, as she’s seen as toxic. She’s on her own, she’s a loose canon, and I think everyone’s wondering what she’ll do next.”
Fergie hasn’t been spotted in public since her granddaughter Athena’s christening on Dec. 23, 2025, at St. James’s Palace in London. Just after Christmas, she flew to Zurich, Switzerland, and spent a month at a luxury medical spa called the Paracelsus Recovery Clinic (which costs more than $16,000 per night). But for all intents and purposes, since being kicked out of Windsor Lodge by King Charles, she has apparently been homeless and staying with friends—including Priscilla Presley, according to the New York Post.
What could happen to her next?
An arrest isn’t off the table, says Lownie, but it wouldn’t be related to sex trafficking. He speculates it could “possibly [be over] suspected money laundering through her companies, tax problems and breaking the law by mixing her finances and her charities.”
For now, though, Fergie’s immediate concern will be finding a new income source since all of her pre-scandal businesses have dried up. Lownie describes her as a “hustler” who might write a tell-all book (which could shake the royal family even more than Prince Harry’s Spare) or may try to get back into business, “probably with some pretty dubious people that don’t care” about her backstory.
Now that Andrew, who she lived with for decades despite their divorce, has been sent into exile to Sandringham, she’ll also have to find somewhere “to rent or buy in the Windsor area.” Lownie says Fergie has made a decent amount of money over the years, just sold a house in London for more than $5 million and can also lean on her daughters. So despite all the drama, she probably “won’t be penniless” anytime soon.
How will this affect Beatrice and Eugenie?
Just like Fergie, the two princesses have been cut off by the royal family, meaning they are currently no longer representing “The Firm.” While they’d never been full-time working royals, they still occasionally popped up at official events. Beatrice and Eugenie had spent Christmas at Sandringham with the king and other senior royals in 2025—something Prince William apparently wasn’t happy about—but they recently got uninvited from Royal Ascot, the prestigious horse-riding event in June where they’d been regulars.
Even worse? Senior royals such as William and Princess Kate are now careful not to be seen with them. “The institution wants to protect itself and is therefore distancing itself from the daughters,” says Lownie. He sees the Royal Ascot ban as “an indication” that the palace might know more than we do about the daughters and is worried about further scandals.
That said, Beatrice and Eugenie are still family, and they are not responsible for their parents’ choices. But Lownie predicts a major shake-up for them when Charles dies: “I think when William comes to throne, he will get rid of their titles and change the line of succession—and they will have to do their money-making in other ways.” That said, they already have day jobs: Eugenie is the associate director of Hauser & Wirth, a gallery in London-Mayfair, and Beatrice runs the strategic advisory firm BY-EQ.
How involved are Eugenie and Beatrice in the Epstein scandal?
Let’s just say it’s all a little too close for comfort, which is why the royal family is being so skittish. Not only did the princesses reportedly have lunch with Epstein in Miami just days after he was released from jail in July 2009, but they also reportedly volunteered to show his guests around Buckingham Palace on several occasions.
And just like their mother, it looks like they did business with Epstein. “Money was fenced through their accounts, and they received very expensive jewelry as gifts, which was another way of paying the family,” Lownie claims. If all of this didn’t already look bad enough for the sisters, Lownie adds that Eugenie and Beatrice were “asked to provide an audit of their businesses” over the whole Epstein saga … “and they refused to do that.” Yikes.
Have the princesses cut ties with their parents?
Yes and no. While Eugenie and Beatrice haven’t been seen out and about with their parents for a while, Lownie believes that they’re still in touch. “The Epstein scandal created a bit of a shock for the daughters, even though I think there weren’t that many surprises there,” he says. “But publicly, they’re keeping their distance.”
Before the revelations shook their lives, Beatrice and Eugenie had had a very close relationship with their parents. Fergie even referred to herself and her daughters as “the Tripod.”
So where does that leave the daughters now? Lownie’s advice to the pair would be to just “sail quietly into the sunset and renounce their titles” to calm the storm, then sort things out behind closed doors. However, he doubts that will actually happen because, well, we all have to pay our bills somehow. As he notes, “their titles are their cash cow.”
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Sources:
- Andrew Lownie, royal biographer and author of Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York; phone interview, March 3, 2026
- BBC: “‘Marry me’ and Epstein’s ‘baby boy’ – key Sarah Ferguson revelations in emails”
- BBC: “Sarah Ferguson asked Epstein for bankruptcy advice while he was in jail, emails suggest”
- BBC: “Their parents are in disgrace—what now for Beatrice and Eugenie?”
- BBC: “Andrew moves out of Royal Lodge home early after latest Epstein files”
- The Times: “Sarah Ferguson ‘took daughters to visit newly free Jeffrey Epstein’”
- The Standard: “Will Andrew do the noble thing and let Princess Eugenie go?”
- The Guardian: “Princesses Eugenie and Beatrice join royal family for Christmas Day service”
- GBN: “Sarah Ferguson’s whereabouts uncovered after former duchess went into exile over Jeffrey Epstein connections”
- Page Six: “Sarah Ferguson is effectively homeless, staying with friends after losing her royal home in wake of Epstein, Andrew”
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