Sarah Ferguson has been photographed in a luxury chalet in the Austrian Alps, marking her first public sighting in 213 days. The former Duchess of York is reportedly lying low as pressure mounts for her to testify about her ties to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In March, US lawmakers urged Ferguson to give sworn testimony to the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating the handling of Epstein's prosecution. The calls follow the release of two million documents from the Epstein case in January, which revealed new details about her relationship with the financier.
Emails from 2009 showed Ferguson referring to Epstein as the “brother I have always wished for” and later calling him a “legend”. The documents also suggested she took her daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie, to lunch with Epstein shortly after his release from prison.
Ferguson has not commented on the requests to testify. Congressman Suhas Subramanyam said she has “information related to the investigation” and that lawmakers would “work out terms” for her testimony, though there is no legal mechanism to compel her to do so.
The former duchess was stripped of her title last year after her ex-husband, Prince Andrew, lost his own titles over his Epstein links. Andrew has been arrested and released under investigation for allegedly leaking documents to Epstein.
