Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York, has experienced a disastrous few days this week as a result of her past friendship with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Earlier this week, new revelations came to light about the duchess, 65, and Epstein, including an email the duchess had sent to him after his release from jail following child sex offences.

The emails, which were sent in 2011, show Sarah apologising to the late paedophile, who she called her “supreme friend”, for distancing herself from him following his jail stint and talking negatively about him to the press. It has been claimed that the duchess, who said in an interview before the emails that her friendship with Epstein had been a "gigantic error of judgment", wrote the email to Epstein - who once also lent her money - out of fear he was going to sue her.

The duchess’ spokesperson said: "The Duchess spoke of her regret about her association with Epstein many years ago, and as they have always been, her first thoughts are with his victims. Like many people, she was taken in by his lies.”

In a poll run by Express.co.uk, we asked readers whether they thought the duchess should be banned from all royal events going forward.

The poll, which launched on Monday, saw 3,306 people vote in favour for the duchess being banned from “all” events.

Meanwhile, 411 people said that the duchess should be banned from some events, with 402 people believing she should be banned from none. 113 poll respondents said they were not sure.

Among the charities to drop Sarah as patron so far include The Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, Julia's House, Prevent Breast Cancer, Teenage Cancer Trust, Children's Literacy Charity, The National Foundation For Retired Service Animals and the British Heart Foundation.