Sarah Ferguson has Freedom of City of York honour removed
Councillors in York have voted unanimously to remove her title of the Freedom of the City of York
Last updated 18 hours ago
Councillors in York have voted unanimously to remove Sarah Ferguson’s title of the Freedom of the City of York over her friendship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Ferguson received the honour in 1987 when she visited York with her then husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor.
Proposals to strip the 66-year-old of the honorary status were first brought up in October 2025.
That was after emails between her and Jeffrey Epstein from 2011 came to light, where she called him a 'steadfast, generous and supreme friend'.
Epstein was convicted of soliciting prostitution from a minor in 2008.
A spokesperson for Ferguson said the email was sent in response to legal threats from Epstein.
A spokesperson for the City of York Council said: “Honorary Freedom is bestowed only on persons of distinction and those having given eminent services to the City of York.
"As the people of York would expect, holding this status requires upholding the values and behaviours consistent with such an honour.
"Those who continued to associate with Epstein after his crimes became widely known fall well short of these expectations."
Speaking during the debate, Liberal Democrat councillor Darryl Smalley said: “We now know, following the release of thousands of documents, that Sarah Ferguson too had a close friendship with Epstein, which continued well beyond his conviction.
“We don’t expect recipients of York’s highest honour to be saints. We simply do not want them to be best friends of convicted paedophiles.
“We stand with victims. We stand for the rule of the rule of law. We stand for decency.”