Princess Eugenie has stepped down as patron of the charity Anti-Slavery International amid ongoing concerns about her father Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Her departure comes as further evidence emerges of the late-financier Epstein’s role in the sexual abuse and trafficking of women.

Mountbatten-Windsor’s links to Epstein have already seen him stripped of his royal titles and he was arrested last month on suspicion of misconduct in public office. He was later released under investigation.

Eugenie’s is no longer featured on the charity’s website, although there is no suggestion of wrongdoing in relation to Epstein on the part of Eugenie, or her sister, Beatrice, or their mother Sarah Ferguson.

Despite stepping down from Anti-Slavery International she continues to be involved with another anti-slavery charity, Anti-Slavery Collective, which she co-founded and is a board member of.

On its website the charity says that “Princess Eugenie has worked across the board with leaders in the fight against modern slavery”.

Anti-Slavery International and Anti-Slavery Collective have been contacted for comment.

Royal patronage value in doubt

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor ended his own 60 charity patronages due to his links with Epstein and amid the fallout from a Newsnight interview he gave in 2019 in which he sought to distance himself from the financier.

Subsequent analysis by Giving Evidence found no evidence that his official support for charities had helped their revenue.

“When Prince Andrew’s patronage ended, about half of his patronee charities saw their revenue rise and about half of them saw revenue fall,” found researchers.

They concluded that “our analysis implies that charities which want revenue may be wasting their time in seeking, securing and/or servicing a Royal patron”.

“Charities may gain other value from Royal patrons, such as reputation: there is no reliable dataset about that so we cannot comment on that,” it added.

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