Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has publicly defended her ex-husband Prince Andrew, describing him as a “humongously good man” and backing Buckingham Palace’s denial of allegations that he had sexual relations with a teenage girl. Appearing on NBC’s Today programme on Tuesday, Ferguson said the allegations were “defamation of character” and that she stood by the official denial issued by the royal family.
Ferguson declined to discuss whether she and Andrew had talked about his encounters with Virginia Roberts, who claims she was forced by Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the prince. “We’re not getting into that subject because you need to ask him that, you need to ask Buckingham Palace that,” she said. However, she added that she would not “let him have his character defamed to this level” given his qualities as a father and his work for Britain.
Roberts has long alleged she was a “sex slave” to Epstein, who served 13 months in jail in 2008 for soliciting prostitution from underage girls. She claims she had relations with Andrew at Epstein’s properties in London, New York, and his private island in the US Virgin Islands. Andrew denies all allegations, and Buckingham Palace has called them “categorically untrue”.
Meanwhile, a journal purportedly written by Roberts, containing explicit details of an alleged encounter with Andrew, was published on a US website. Roberts’ lawyers said they were aware of the journal but were not behind its publication. They argued the excerpts were “entirely consistent” with her court allegations.
Separately, the government of the US Virgin Islands said it would review corporate sponsorship deals after it emerged that Epstein had given computers to school pupils and funded government events for children. Epstein’s attorney said his philanthropy was “heartfelt and decades old” with the sole aim of helping those in need.
