When King Charles's oldest brother Andrew was arrested on 18 February 2026, Buckingham Palace's greatest fear came true further to the FBI's most recent release of Jeffrey Epstein files. Andrew had shared secrets with his billionaire friend Epstein-a felon with secret-service connections, who was arrested and died in 2019-and Ghislaine Maxwell., convicted of underage-sex crimes in 2022. Fifteen years earlier, a snapshot had surfaced of Andrew-then 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. In August 2021, Giuffre sued the prince-a first in royal history-and settled for a rumoured £12 million before dying in 2025.