Sarah Ferguson is set to return to the UK after relocating to a Swiss chalet amid the fallout over her and ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s friendship with convicted child sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, according to reports.
The scandal over the pair’s relationship with Epstein saw them both lose their royal titles earlier last year. According to the Sun, the former Duchess of York, 66, is renting a six-bedroom gated property in the home counties.
Ferguson used to live with Mountbatten-Windsor at his former home Royal Lodge until he was forced to vacate the premises and move to Marsh Farm on King Charles’s Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
She could “imminently” move into a new home, which has three bathrooms and a “granny annexe”, according to the newspaper.
It is believed Ferguson has been spending her time out of the public eye at a Swiss Alpine chalet in Verbier since leaving Royal Lodge, and her belongings were collected from Andrew’s home in Sandringham this week, the newspaper added.
Her expected return comes just days after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived back in the UK with their children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet. The family are expected to enjoy an “extended stay” in Britain, with the children already enrolled at school in the UK and due to start next week.
She has faced calls to speak to US authorities about Epstein after last year’s release of millions of documents associated with him shed new light on their relationship.
One email exchange suggested Ferguson took her daughters to see Epstein in the US days after he was released from prison for child sex crimes.
A year after his conviction for child sex crimes, Ferguson thanked Epstein for being the “brother” she “always wished for” in an email.
Last September, the Mail on Sunday published emails from 2011, in which Ferguson privately described Epstein as her “supreme friend” and apologised for “letting him down”, despite having publicly called her association with him “a gigantic error of judgment”.
The messages were sent less than two months after she had insisted she would “never have anything to do with [Epstein] again”, amid pressure over the ties she and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor had maintained with him – including a £15,000 payment Epstein made to help settle her debts.
Epstein has been the downfall of Mountbatten-Windsor, who was stripped of his titles by the King because of “serious lapses of judgment” over his friendship with the late child sex offender.
Ferguson lost her courtesy royal divorcee title and reverted to her original name, and also lost the freedom of the city of York after councillors voted unanimously to remove the honour over her links to Epstein. She and Andrew were given the honour as a wedding present from York in 1987 during a visit to the city.
The former duchess has published more than 50 books – largely children’s titles – but after the Epstein revelations, thousands of copies of her latest children’s book were withdrawn from sale and “pulped”.
Earlier this year, Ferguson’s international charity, Sarah’s Trust, announced its closure “for the foreseeable future”. This came after seven charities, including the Teenage Cancer Trust and children’s hospice, had cut ties and revoked Ferguson’s patronage due to her links with Epstein.
Six companies linked to Ferguson – S Phoenix Events, Fergie’s Farm, La Luna Investments, Solamoon Ltd, Philanthrapreneur Ltd and Planet Partners Productions Ltd – were wound down in February after more damaging revelations came to light with the release of the Epstein files.
