Sarah Ferguson stripped of Freedom of the City of York over links to Jeffrey Epstein
Sarah Ferguson has lost her honorary Freedom of the City of York over her links to Jeffrey Epstein.
On Thursday night, York councillors voted to remove the honor, which had been awarded to the former Duchess of York and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, her ex-husband, as a wedding gift in 1987.
The vote was taken at the first extraordinary meeting of the council since Mr. Mountbatten-Windsor was stripped of his freedom of the city three years ago, and followed fresh revelations about Ms. Ferguson’s links to the convicted pedophile.
The Epstein files revealed that she had called him her "supreme friend", had apologized for her public criticism of him and had begged him for money.
Emails indicated that she had asked for his financial advice on how to deal with her £6m of debts while he was still in jail for soliciting prostitution from a minor.
The only motion in the meeting, held on Thursday, stated: "The council resolves that, pursuant to Section 249 of the Local Government Act 1972, the City of York Council withdraws the Honorary Freeman of the City status from Sarah Ferguson, which was conferred upon her in 1987."
The honorary freedom of the city is given to residents who demonstrate notable service, to distinguished people and to royalty, the council has said previously.
Gwen Swinburn, a member of the public, addressed councillors first, followed by Claire Douglas, the York council leader, who proposed the motion.
Ms. Swinburn said the former Duchess and Duke’s association with the city "chips away" at its reputation, adding: "The decision before you tonight should not be a difficult one. It is the absolute minimum of what you should be doing.
"Every day, the phrase ’the York family’ appears. Increasingly, it appears as ’the disgraced York family’, not just in the UK but all over the world. That is what our city’s name is now attached to. It chips away at the reputation of this city – quietly and repeatedly by a thousand cuts. If you remove the freedom of the city, you remove one of those cuts but you leave the rest."
’Removing the honor was appropriate’
Ms. Douglas 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 behaviors consistent with such an honor.
"Those who continue to associate with Epstein after his crimes became widely known fall well short of these expectations.
"City of York councillors considered these issues this evening and agreed that removing the honor from Sarah Ferguson was appropriate. This was the right decision to take to maintain the integrity and standing of this important York honor."
Speaking during the debate, Darryl Smalley, a Liberal Democrat councillor, 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 honor to be saints. We simply do not want them to be best friends of convicted pedophiles. We stand with victims. We stand for the rule of law. We stand for decency."
Several charities have cut ties with Ms. Ferguson following the revelations. Six companies linked to Ms. Ferguson started winding down in the wake of the publication of the Epstein files, according to Companies House documents. Sarah’s Trust, a charity she founded, announced that it would close "for the foreseeable future".
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