Waking up on a grey Saturday morning, one might expect the usual royal updates — perhaps a charitable visit or a new portrait. Instead, the British public has been jolted by a fresh wave of documents released by the US Department of Justice, and the contents are nothing short of a nightmare for the House of Windsor.
The latest tranche of Jeffrey Epstein files has surfaced, and with it, a series of photographs of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor that have left the nation — and likely his older brother — reeling in disbelief. In one particularly damaging image, the former Duke of York is seen on all fours, hovering over a woman who is sprawled on a white striped carpet. While the woman’s face is redacted, Andrew’s is clear as he looks directly into the lens with a faint smile.
In another shot, he is seen touching the woman’s stomach. There is no date or context provided for these images, which, in the court of public opinion, only serves to deepen the intrigue and the ‘cringe’ factor.
However, these photos are just the tip of the iceberg; the latest release of over three million pages also unearthed controversial 2010 email exchanges where Andrew allegedly invited Epstein to Buckingham Palace for dinner with ‘lots of privacy’ just days after the financier finished his house arrest for sex offences. While the photographs do not explicitly prove illegal activity, the optics are disastrous. Andrew has consistently and vehemently denied all allegations regarding his association with the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, yet these visuals tell a story of a level of comfort and depravity that is impossible to ignore.
Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein
Youtube Screenshot/TODAY
King Charles Faces Mounting Pressure to Sever All Ties
The timing for the monarch could not be worse. King Charles is already in the midst of a delicate operation to streamline the monarchy and distance the firm from past scandals.
Last year, the king took the decisive step of stripping his younger brother of his military affiliations and royal patronages. Letters Patent made it official in November 2025 that Andrew would no longer use the title ‘Prince’ or the style ‘His Royal Highness’.
But this new turn of events makes things more serious. For a lot of people, the slow removal of titles is no longer enough. More and more people are telling King Charles to kick his brother out of the royal family for good. The argument is simple: as long as Andrew stays on royal estates or gets any kind of money from the Privy Purse, the Epstein scandal will always be a part of the King’s reign.
Compounding the pressure is a newly revealed August 2010 email where Epstein offered to set Andrew up with a 26-year-old Russian woman described as ‘clever and beautiful’, to which the ‘duke’ replied he would be ‘delighted’ to meet her.
King Charles III and Prince Andrew
Getty Images/Chris Jackson
The Royal Lodge Eviction and the Question of Banishment
The battle over the Royal Lodge has already been a source of significant tension within the family. King Charles has reportedly intensified the process to remove Andrew from the 30-room mansion in Windsor Great Park, with an eviction deadline set for Easter 2026. Priceless artworks have already been removed from the walls as preparations for his departure to the more modest Marsh Farm on the Sandringham Estate begin.
Yet, even a move to a ‘ramshackle’ farm feels like a half-measure to a public watching these new files drop. Critics are asking why a man appearing in such compromising positions in the files of a convicted paedophile should receive any perks at all.
Banishment, in this context, would mean no royal security, no subsidised housing and a total cessation of the £1 million annual allowance that the king had previously provided from his private funds. Palace insiders are now reportedly urging the king to push for a ‘real reset’, encouraging Andrew and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, to leave the United Kingdom entirely and move abroad post-eviction to protect the future of their daughters.
For Andrew’s family — his daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson — this is yet another humiliating chapter. For the king, it is a test of his resolve. As more files are expected to be unsealed, the question isn’t just about what Andrew was doing on all fours on a striped carpet; it’s about how much more the monarchy is willing to endure before the slate is wiped completely clean.