Princess Eugenie Launches Anti-Trafficking Campaign as Parents Face Fallout

Princess Eugenie helped launch a campaign exposing exploitation in counterfeit fashion amid a controversial time for her family.

Eugenie, 35, was in New York City during the United Nations General Assembly to present “Hidden Threads: Fake Fashion – A Human Rights Scandal,” a campaign focused on the exploitation of workers in the world of counterfeit fashion, from fake designer handbags to faux sports jerseys.

The organization she cofounded, The Anti Slavery Collective, is calling on governments to take the underground world of counterfeiting more seriously and crack down on abuses like forced labour, child labor and human trafficking.

Princess Eugenie said in a statement, “Fake fashion fuels modern slavery, and The Anti-Slavery Collective is determined to confront and challenge it. It’s not always obvious, but the clothes and accessories we buy can come at a hidden cost to people and the planet. There are 28 million people today who are forced to work in dangerous and exploitative industries for little or no pay. Behind counterfeit fashion are men, women and children coerced into making, distributing or selling fake goods — often at great personal risk and with little gain. This campaign is about creating a call to action for consumers. We want people to pause and think about where their fakes come from and how they were made.”

The campaign comes as Eugenie’s parents, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, remain in the headlines for their ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, who has been accused of sexual abuse by dozens of women.

Just this week, Sarah was dropped as the patron of multiple charitable organizations after it was revealed that she sent a 2011 email to Epstein apologizing for publicly disowning him.

On Sept. 22, the Duchess of York, 65, was dropped by the children’s hospice Julia’s House, the Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the Children’s Literacy Charity, Teenage Cancer Trust, Prevent Breast Cancer, the British Heart Foundation and the National Foundation for Retired Service Animals.

Julia’s House shared a statement with PEOPLE saying, “Following the information shared this weekend on the Duchess of York’s correspondence with Jeffrey Epstein, Julia’s House has taken the decision that it would be inappropriate for her to continue as a patron of the charity. We have advised the Duchess of York of this decision and thank her for her past support.”

According to reports in The Sun and The Mail on Sunday, the controversial message originated after Epstein was convicted on June 30, 2008, in a Florida state court of one count each of soliciting a minor for prostitution and soliciting prostitution.

After years of friendship, Fergie — as the Duchess of York is popularly known — publicly disowned the billionaire in a 2011 interview. However, sent him a private email weeks later praising him as “a steadfast, generous and supreme friend to me and my family,” the outlets reported.

A spokesperson for the Duchess of York declined to comment on her status with Julia’s House but shared a statement to PEOPLE addressing the reports about her email to Epstein: “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. As soon as she was aware of the extent of the allegations against him, she not only cut off contact but condemned him publicly, to the extent that he then threatened to sue her for defamation for associating him with paedophilia. She does not resile from anything she said then. This email was sent in the context of advice the Duchess was given to try to assuage Epstein and his threats.”

Though they divorced in 1996, Sarah and Andrew have remained close, even living together at his Windsor residence, the Royal Lodge.

They have also remained united in the face of a new wave of scrutiny over their Epstein ties this year, which included a bombshell book, Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, by Andrew Lownie which dove into the sex trafficking scandal as part of its investigation into “a spoilt prince unable to connect and a duchess pushed by her insecurities into a desperate need to maintain the attention her ‘royal’ status brought.”

King Charles‘ younger brother took a major step back from his duties as a working royal in November 2019, following a scrutinized interview with BBC’s Newsnight about his alleged ties to Epstein.

Then, in January 2022, Queen Elizabeth stripped her son of his military titles and patronages after he attempted to have Virginia Giuffre’s sexual assault lawsuit against him dismissed. The Duke of York has denied any wrongdoing, and in February 2022, settled with Giuffre out of court for an undisclosed sum.

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Since then, he has been kept out of the spotlight against his wishes, Lownie claimed in an interview with Sky News tied to the book’s release.

“I don’t think he has any public future. I would say his private future is pretty limited, too,” the author noted. “I mean, he lives in Royal Lodge [on the Windsor Estate], he plays golf, watches TV and presumably sees his grandchildren… He’s living the life of a retired man.”

Lownie continued, “What most annoys him is his lack of a royal status. That’s what really sort of gave him his whole sense of identity. And that’s, you know, it’s not being able to put on his uniforms and strut around and being self-important.”