The Gist
The fallout continues surrounding Sarah Ferguson’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, which was exposed in a January drop of the Epstein files.
The former Duchess of York surrendered that title last October after receiving it as a wedding present from Queen Elizabeth in 1986.
On March 26, Sarah had another title removed, the Freedom of the City of York, an honor that was stripped from her ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor in 2022.
Nearly 40 years after the title was given to her as a wedding present in 1987, Sarah Ferguson has been stripped of another title—this one the Freedom of the City of York honor.
Sarah Ferguson at Wimbledon on June 30, 2025
Credit: Getty
The former Duchess of York—who surrendered that title, which she’d held since her 1986 wedding day, in October 2025—had her Freedom of the City of York title taken away after lawmakers voted on March 26 to remove it in the wake of Sarah’s association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Sarah’s ex-husband Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—formerly known as Prince Andrew—had the same title revoked back in 2022. Andrew and Sarah were given the titles of Duke and Duchess of York by Queen Elizabeth on their July 23, 1986 wedding day; Andrew also surrendered his Duke of York title last October, the same month King Charles stripped him of all royal titles and privileges.
The Freedom of the City of York honor is given to residents who demonstrate notable service, to distinguished people, and to royalty, per The Telegraph.
Sarah Ferguson in Italy on July 28, 2025
Credit: Getty
Gwen Swinburn, a member of the public, said of Andrew and Sarah, “Every day, the phrase ‘the York family’ appears. Increasingly, it appears as ‘the disgraced York family,’ not just in the U.K. 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.”
Claire Douglas, the York council leader who proposed the motion to remove Sarah’s honor, said that removing it from Sarah “was appropriate. This was the right decision to take to maintain the integrity and standing of this important York honor.” Councilor Darryl Smalley added, per The Times, “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.”
Sarah Ferguson in Cannes, France on July 17, 2025
Credit: Getty
When Sarah was awarded the honor 39 years ago in 1987, The Times reported that it was a ceremony attended by roughly 200,000 people. Other notable recipients of the honor include Sir Winston Churchill and Dame Judi Dench.
Sarah Ferguson on September 16, 2025
Credit: Getty
In the wake of the January drop of the Epstein files that mentioned Sarah numerous times, her whereabouts remain unknown. She has been thought to be everywhere from the French Alps to the United Arab Emirates to wellness spas in both Switzerland and Ireland.
Read the original article on InStyle