Sarah Ferguson is once again dragged into the Jeffrey Epstein scandal after a leaked 2011 email shows her pleading for forgiveness from the disgraced financier — weeks after she publicly swore she had severed ties.

The Duchess of York, who had admitted taking £15,000 from Epstein to pay off debts, told him she felt "hellaciously let down" and was "paralysed with fear," grovelling over the damage her distancing may have caused.

The revelation shatters the narrative that Ferguson quickly and decisively broke contact with Epstein once his predatory history emerged.

Instead, it suggests she was still seeking his approval long after cashing his cheque.

Her representatives now claim she was manipulated and pressured by threats of legal action, but the language of the email points to deference rather than defiance.

For the royal family, the timing could not be worse.

Ferguson was seen at the Duchess of Kent’s funeral this week, her image seemingly rehabilitated in the royal fold.

Within days, however, she is back under fire — and by extension, so is her ex-husband Prince Andrew, whose own ties to Epstein remain the family’s most toxic burden.

A forthcoming book by Virginia Giuffre, Andrew’s accuser, threatens to heap further fuel on the fire.

Critics say the Windsor strategy of silence and denial is collapsing.

Rather than confronting the Epstein connection, the royals appear to have buried it, hoping the scandal would fade.

Instead, the latest leak underlines how deeply Epstein’s shadow still stretches — not only over Prince Andrew, but now once again over Sarah Ferguson and the monarchy itself.