Prince Andrew Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace

Buckingham Palace's greatest fear came true when, in quick succession, the FBI arrested on charges of under-age sex trafficking, Prince Andrew's friends billionaire Jeffrey Epstein-a felon with secret-service connections-and Ghislaine Maxwell. A decade earlier, just before the royal marriage of Prince William and Kate, an unverified snapshot had surfaced of Andrew, the Queen's favourite son, with his arm around the naked midriff of Epstein's most implacable and articulate persecutor, Virginia Giuffre. Despite unequivocal denials of impropriety and stringent defamation warnings, the palace was unable to nip the threat to the monarchy in the bud and in August 2021, Giuffre sued the prince-a first in royal history-and settled for a rumoured £10 million.