A bombshell email obtained by The Mail on Sunday has revealed how the Duchess of York cynically lied when she pledged to cut ties with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Just weeks after publicly disowning the vile billionaire, Sarah Ferguson wrote him a gushing private message calling him a 'steadfast, generous and supreme friend' – and admitting she only distanced herself from him to save her own reputation.

The Duchess 'humbly apologised' to the convicted sex offender for letting him down, and said she had been told to speak out if she wanted to save her career as a children's author.

She sent the grovelling message 'from the truth of my heart', less than two months after telling journalists: 'I will never have anything to do with [Epstein] again.'

Those comments came on March 7, 2011, amid mounting pressure over the links she and ex-husband Prince Andrew had to the paedophile – and the £15,000 bailout he gave her.