Jeffrey Epstein revealed in an email that he had secretly bankrolled Sarah Ferguson for 15 years.
The paedophile financier said that he began 'financially supporting' the former Duchess of York in 1996 - the year she divorced Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
The email from the child sex predator to a friend has emerged in the latest cache of the Epstein Files.
It came as Andrew was arrested at Sandringham today and Ms Ferguson remains in hiding.
Andrew's ex-wife and their two daughters Beatrice and Eugenie will no doubt be shocked and devastated by his high-profile arrest. The King has said 'the law must take its course' after expressing his 'deepest concern' over the development, adding police have his 'wholehearted support and co-operation'.
Epstein's email suggesting his financial patronage of Fergie went way beyond the £15,000 she publicly admitted taking from him came amid troubling and persistent questions about the former Duchess of York's finances.
Six of her businesses are in the process of being wound up.
Critics have demanded to know who financed her life of luxury after she and Andrew split, as well as the source of the cash for Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie's constant holidays that defined their teens and twenties.
Epstein complained to friends about the disgraced duchess's scrounging when in 2001 she said he was a paedophile and that she regretted being his friend, an email he wrote reveals.
Sarah Ferguson, pictured in the Epstein Files, was financially supported by the paedophile for 15 years, Epstein said himself in an email
Epstein was furious when Fergie called him a child abuser, pointing out he had 'financially helped' her for more than decade
He suggested to one confidant that while Andrew appeared to be standing by him and have the support of the then prime minister, his ex-wife was not.
On March 7, 2011, she told the London Evening Standard that accepting £15,000 from Epstein to settle debts had called it 'a giant error of judgment'.
That evening an angry Epstein wrote to a friend: 'The duchess that I have financially helped for 15 years said that she wants nothing to do with a paedophile and child sex abuser. It has caused quite a stir.'
He was responding to an email suggesting that then prime minister David Cameron was supporting Andrew.
Mr Cameron had given his 'full backing' and 'full confidence' to Andrew despite his links to Epstein. At the time Andrew was the UK's Special Representative for International Trade and Investment.
Epstein appeared to accept this was positive but then launched into a rant about his 15 years of bankrolling Fergie.
He added that he had been asked to appear on the BBC's Today programme on Radio 4.
His friend said: 'Don't go'.
Princess Beatrice later helped advise Fergie on how to publicly backtrack when she upset Epstein by calling him a paedophile, her mother said in one email over a year later.
Fergie claimed her eldest daughter, then 22, agreed with her that it was 'important' to brief the press that Epstein had 'done his penance' in prison for soliciting sex from girls as young as 14.
The former duchess said Beatrice was present when she called a journalist in April 2011 to say it was 'wrong' to call Epstein a sex offender because he was now 'moving on with his life', newly unearthed emails show.
He was released from Palm Beach County Penitentiary in September 2009 after serving 13 months of an 18-month sentence.
She said she planned to tell the press: 'He [Epstein] was sent to prison for sexual offending but that he had done his penance and was out of jail.'
And revealing her daughter's support she said: 'Beatrice and I had a discussion and we agreed it was important.'
Sarah Ferguson claimed that her daughter Princess Beatrice (pictured together at the polo in 2006) had discussed how to publicly backtrack on calling Jeffrey Epstein a paedophile
The Daily Mail has also found an email from Epstein in 2015 where he told a friend not to worry about meeting Beatrice at an event in Mexico because she 'liked' him. The paedophile famously attended her lavish Victorian-themed 18th birthday masked ball at Royal Lodge with Maxwell and Weinstein in 2006.
Beatrice's support for her mother almost 15 years ago came as the former Duchess of York tried to save her friendship with Epstein and was beset with financial problems. Epstein would try to broker a deal to help her stave off bankruptcy.
Eight years later, Beatrice played a key role in facilitating Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's catastrophic 2019 interview with BBC Newsnight.
The email emerged in the last tranche of Epstein Files documents at a time when questions are being asked about who was paying for Fergie's luxury lifestyle - and her daughter's holidays.
The former Duchess of York, 66, has been lying low amid growing outrage over her ties to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and is recently said to have spent time with friends in the French Alps before moving on to the United Arab Emirates.
She has also been spending time with her youngest daughter, Princess Eugenie, 35, who has been in the region for work, attending an art fair in Doha, Qatar, in her role as a director at dealer Hauser and Wirth.
But Fergie who has, along with her former husband Andrew, become a pariah in Britain has not been seen in public since September 25 2025 - when she was photographed being driven out of Royal Lodge.
Until recently the disgraced pair - who Fergie once described as the 'happiest divorced couple in the world' - continued to live together at Andrew's vast Windsor mansion, a staggering three decades after their split.
But her future was plunged into further uncertainty today after Andrew, the eighth in line to the British throne who turns 66 today, was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in a public office and is being held in custody.
Multiple unmarked police cars were seen swooping on Andrew's new home in Sandringham, Norfolk, where he has been living since he and Sarah were forced out of Royal Lodge.
This is the first time the former prince, who has faced several allegations relating to convicted sex offender Epstein, has been arrested.
Detectives are now carrying out searches at addresses in Berkshire and Norfolk, Thames Valley Police said. It is not confirmed which properties are being searched but Royal Lodge is in Windsor, Berkshire, while his new home, Wood Farm is in Sandringham, Norfolk.
Andrew's dramatic arrest comes in stark contrast to his ex-wife, Sarah, who has been keeping a low profile since leaving Royal Lodge.
But sources say she has openly told friends: 'I need to get back to work. I need money.'
It comes after emails between the ex-duchess and Epstein show her repeatedly chasing him for money to pay off her debts, as well as practical support over a considerable period of time.
They contain evidence she remained in close contact with him after he was released from prison for sex offences against children, even taking her two daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to have lunch with him five days after his release.
She also privately issued a grovelling apology to Epstein for publicly denouncing him, claiming she only did so to protect her career as a children's author.
She told him he had been a 'steadfast, generous and supreme friend'.
As the fallout continues, friends believe that she may conclude that the only place where her former royal status may still open doors is in the Middle East.
Earlier this week, royal author Andrew Lownie, who wrote a damning book on the scandal-hit couple called Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York , said he believes that multi-millionaires in Dubai and the surrounding countries of Bahrain and Qatar will probably be bankrolling Fergie already.
'In Britain neither Sarah or Andrew will be socially accepted again whatever they try to do or wherever they go. But in the Middle East no one will care about what they have got up to.
'There are people there - royalty, politicians and business types - whom Sarah can quite happily sponge off and who will be happy to bankroll both of them.'
A convoy of cars was seen driving close to Wood Farm shortly before it was revealed that Andrew had been arrested. He is in custody
A police officer smiles as he leaves the gates of Andrew's former home in Windsor, Royal Lodge, which is also being searched
'These types of people in the Middle East simply couldn't care less what Sarah has done. And even if she doesn't have her title of the Duchess of York anymore, she will still be seen as royalty and treated as such - and she knows it.'
Last week, the Mail reported how Eugenie had left the UK for Qatar where she was working at a high-end contemporary art fair in Doha this week.
She and Beatrice are said to be 'aghast' at their mother's embarrassing tranche of emails to Epstein.
Sources close to the sisters also said they are 'appalled' and 'embarrassed' about the photos of their father crouching over a mystery woman lying on the floor in Epstein's New York mansion.
Despite the deepening scandal, Eugenie smiled as model Caroline Daur , 30 , put a comforting arm around the princess , who along with her older sister Beatrice was dragged into Epstein's orbit by their mother and father .
Ms Daur , known as Caro to her friends , tagged Eugenie at Art Basel 2026 , with the caption : ‘REUNION!!! It’s been too long’ . The annual art fair in Qatar was also attended by David Beckham and Angeline Jolie .