The City of York Council voted unanimously on Thursday 26 March 2026 to strip Sarah Ferguson of her honorary Freedom of the City of York title. The decision to remove the city’s highest civic honour followed the release of documents by the US Department of Justice earlier this year, which revealed details regarding her past association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Councillors met for an extraordinary session at the Guildhall to address the matter. The motion to remove the honour was brought forward following the emergence of correspondence showing that Ferguson maintained a close friendship with Epstein well after his 2008 conviction for soliciting prostitution from a minor. Publicly released files include emails from 2009 in which Ferguson referred to Epstein as the brother she had always wished for and thanked him for his support.
Council Leader Claire Douglas stated that the honorary title is intended for people who demonstrate values consistent with the dignity of the city. She noted that maintaining a friendship with Epstein after his crimes became widely known falls short of the expectations for those holding such a status. York Central MP Rachael Maskell supported the decision, describing it as an appropriate step given the nature of the associations revealed.
The honorary freedom was originally awarded to Ferguson and her then-husband, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, in 1987 as a wedding gift. Mountbatten-Windsor was previously stripped of the same honour by the council in 2022 due to his own links to Epstein. This latest vote makes Ferguson the second person in the city’s history to have the honour removed, marking a significant break from a tradition that dates back to Roman times when the city was known as Eboracum.
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