Sarah Ferguson claims she was trying to protect Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie when she sent an email apologising to Jeffrey Epstein. 

The Duchess of York’s spokesman James Henderson has come to the fierce defence of the royal, saying ‘her children will always come first to her’. 

He stated yesterday that a ‘chilling’ warning from the financier involved in sex offenses explains why she was seen showering him with praise in leaked messages from 2011 where she referred to him as her ‘supreme friend’.

Epstein was reportedly furious when she labeled him a paedophile publicly, and she regarded accepting £15,000 from him to clear her debts as a ‘terrible, terrible error of judgment’.

In an email exposed by the Mail on Sunday, the duchess ‘humbly apologised’ and admitted to the sex trafficker that she realized he might ‘feel profoundly let down by me’.

The revelations prompted several charities to sever their connections with the duchess, a move that was applauded by Virginia Giuffre’s family, who encouraged US-based organizations to do the same. 

Mr. Henderson revealed her admiring email followed a ‘frightening call’ where a ‘sinister and unpleasant’ Epstein threatened to ‘ruin the York family’ using ‘a voice reminiscent of Hannibal Lecter’. 

‘The pressure she was put under to protect her family must have been huge,’ he said. 

Sarah Ferguson claims she was trying to protect Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie when she sent an email apologising to Jeffrey Epstein

Sarah Ferguson sent the fawning email to Epstein calling him a ‘supreme friend’ after publicly calling him a paedophile

‘And this was long before the Duke’s life had been ruined by his association with Epstein. Her family and her children will always come first.’ 

The Duchess, 65, was subsequently dropped by seven charities including the Teenage Cancer Trust and British Heart Foundation. 

Giuffre’s family yesterday called it ‘commendable’ for the charities to have severed ties with Sarah. 

‘This bold move conveys a strong stance on accountability and the importance of challenging those who back the horrific child trafficking ring that Epstein and Maxwell orchestrated,’ they expressed in a statement to The Times. 

Ms Giuffre, who claimed she was abused by Epstein and trafficked three times to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17, committed suicide in April. 

The Duke of York has vehemently denied the claims. 

Meanwhile, today, he broke cover for the first time since the news of his ex-wife’s email to Epstein was unearthed.

The duke was spotted driving his Range Rover away from his Windsor mansion with a male companion in the passenger seat.  

The Duchess of York received backing yesterday by football WAG Lizzie Cundy, who told of speaking to the Duchess amid the fall-out from the email revelations.  

Ms Cundy, 57, the TV personality and former wife of ex-Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur footballer Jason Cundy was questioned about the Duchess’s feelings by Channel 5 presenter Jeremy Vine on Tuesday morning.  

The programme guest said of Fergie: ‘Well, she’s obviously devastated – there is no one more sorry today than Sarah Ferguson.

‘She is regretful, she wishes she’d never met Jeffrey Epstein, but there are reasons why she sent that email.  

Prince Andrew was seen driving his Range Rover away from his Windsor mansion today as he broke cover for the first time since the revelations about his ex-wife’s email to Epstein 

‘The fact is, he was enraged that she’d publicly condemned him – he was absolutely beyond, saying, “I’m going to get revenge, I’m going to ruin your family”.

‘It was threatening, it was very dark and she felt she had no choice but to try and appease him – she was scared for herself, for her family.

‘You have to think, he was probably the most powerful man on the planet, or the richest man.

‘She was fooled by him, like many others were – like the Clintons, like Peter Mandelson, many others.’

The host raised how Cundy had spoken to the Duchess ‘in the last 24 hours’ while putting to her how Epstein ‘was a convicted paedophile’.

Ms Cundy replied: ‘He was. It’s wrong. She’s very, very sorry. But the fact is, when she did condemn him, she did publicly, it got very, very nasty. 

‘He got huge lawyers on to her as well – she thought it was going to be embarrassing not just for her own family but the rest of the Royal Family and she felt that was the only option she had.’