Sarah Ferguson's debt to PA 'helped lead to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's downfall'

Sarah Ferguson's significant debt to her former PA "helped lead to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's downfall", it has been claimed.

The former Duchess of York reportedly owed her long-time personal assistant Johnny O'Sullivan $126,721 (which is around £93,500) after she went bankrupt in the US in 2010, according to the Epstein Files.

The huge amounted prompted Andrew to request his friend, the disgraced Jeffrey Epstein, to pay his ex-wife's bill. It comes after it emerged Andrew will have to do one humiliating job himself "for the first time ever" after his Royal Lodge eviction.

Soon afterwards the famous photograph of Andrew and Epstein walking through Central Park in New York was taken, in December 2010. It cast a spotlight on their relationship from which the former Duke of York never recovered. By that time Epstein had pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a person under the age of 18, for which he served 13 months in jail.

In an email to Andrew sent on February 28, 2011 - less than three months after the photo was taken - Epstein confirmed he had paid off the debt, according to the Daily Telegraph.

Mr O'Sullivan had apparently agreed to settle for much less than he was owed. Convicted sex offender Epstein wrote: "He said he would take 60k in wages, pay tax and be done. I don't trust him at all, and a payment from me at the moment if disclosed to the press would look like a payoff for the little s***."

Sarah Ferguson's PA was apparently owed for wages and student fees for an MBA at the prestigious Columbia University that she had agreed to pay for.

In August 2010 reports were circulating that she might declare voluntary bankruptcy with debts of around £5million, although other sources estimate the figure was closer to £2million.

Emails and documents contained in the latest tranche of the Epstein Files show how creditors were offered "25p in the pound" to settle debts. This included an offer of $31,680 (around £23,300) to Mr O'Sullivan "without prejudice and in full and final settlement" - far less than he was reportedly owed.

Mr O'Sullivan said he would accept the offer in a formal document sent to him on January 7, 2011. This was provided his student debt of almost $60,000 (around £44,100) was also settled as well as a further $22,500 (around £16,500) to make up the shortfall.

An email forwarded to Epstein said: "Their actions seem to be to cause as much embarrassment to the Duchess and in the case of Johnny, if he does not receive his full claim, he is highly likely to go public with a book or story of his 18 years or so of being a personal aide to the Duchess."

Andrew's relationship with Epstein has been the cause of much speculation since the infamous photo snapped in Central Park more than 15 years ago. It was the subject up for discussion during his car crash interview on Newsnight in 2019, which hastened his exile from royal life.

Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing relating to his relationship with Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August 2019. The King's brother has since been stripped of all his titles and has been forced out of Royal Lodge, with the former prince leaving for good earlier this week. He will be temporarily staying in Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate.