A photograph of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, released among the Epstein files, is thought to have been taken at the Royal Family’s Sandringham estate during a raucous birthday party hosted for Jeffrey Epstein’s then-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The image, released by the US Department of Justice last week, shows Andrew lying on the laps of five women while convicted sex trafficker Maxwell looks on in the background.
According to The Mail on Sunday, the photograph was taken in the saloon room at the Royal Family’s beloved Norfolk estate in December 2000, to celebrate Maxwell’s 39th birthday.
It’s alleged that Sandringham staff found condoms, lubricants, and sex-enhancing drugs in bathrooms after the party, according to author Robert Jobson, citing a palace source.
The bombshell photograph would “horrify” the Royal Family, author Andrew Lownie told the outlet.
“(Sandringham) is one of their private inner sanctums and they will be appalled that Andrew treated it as just another place to have fun and show off to his friends,” Mr Lownie said.
Andrew, 65, previously denied hosting a birthday party for Maxwell, who is now serving a 20-year jail sentence for helping Epstein abuse underage girls, during his disastrous BBC interview in 2019.
He denied it was a “birthday party”, replying: “No, it was a shooting weekend. Just a straightforward shooting weekend.”
Journalist Emily Maitlis put it to Andrew that during the time of the “shooting weekend”, Epstein had been “procuring young girls for sex trafficking”.
Andrew said he saw “no indication that that was what (Epstein) was doing” and has continually denied any wrongdoing.
Earlier this month, Andrew was stripped of his final titles and honours over his links to Epstein.
King Charles has also ordered his eviction from Royal Lodge, which he is expected to do in the new year.
The former Duke of York’s dramatic fall from grace comes after a posthumous memoir from Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre repeated allegations that Andrew had sex with her on three occasions when she was a teenager.
He has denied this.
Also included in the Epstein files is another photo of Andrew with Epstein and Maxwell taken at Royal Ascot, and two photos of Sarah Ferguson with unidentified women.
Fergie will also need to leave Royal Lodge and make her own living arrangements after living there with Andrew for nearly two decades.
She was embroiled in her own Epstein controversy earlier this year after a 2011 email was leaked in which she described Epstein as her “steadfast, generous and supreme friend”.
Epstein died in jail in 2019 while awaiting his trial for sex trafficking charges.
The convicted paedophile was accused of running a “vast network” of underage girls, some as young as 12.