The tenuous rehabilitation of Prince Andrew has surely collapsed for good. Among the millions of files released by the US Department of Justice today is a photograph that threatens to inflict fatal damage on the reputation of the British Monarchy. The grainy image appears to show the Duke of York crouching over a young woman or girl on a massage table, reigniting the scandal that saw him stripped of his royal titles.

The release of the "Epstein Files" has delivered the bombshell that royal watchers feared. While Andrew—now often referred to in legal documents as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor—has consistently denied wrongdoing and settled a civil sexual assault case out of court, the visual evidence and accompanying emails tell a story of deep, comfortable familiarity with Jeffrey Epstein’s world.

"Lots of Privacy"

Perhaps even more damaging than the photo are the emails. In a correspondence dated September 2010—years after Epstein’s first conviction—the Prince invites the registered sex offender to stay at Buckingham Palace. "Delighted for you to come here to BP," Andrew wrote. "We could have dinner... and lots of privacy."

This revelation shreds the Prince’s previous defense that he stayed in contact with Epstein solely out of a misplaced sense of loyalty and was trying to break off the friendship. Inviting a known predator to the Sovereign’s official residence offers no such wiggle room. It suggests a man who felt untouchable.

• The Palace Reaction: Buckingham Palace has issued a terse "no comment," sticking to its line that the Duke is a private citizen defending himself as an individual. But inside the firm, the mood is reportedly apocalyptic. King Charles, who has sought to slim down the monarchy and distance it from scandal, now faces renewed calls to completely exile his brother from Royal Lodge.
• The Mandelson Connection: The files also drag in British politics. Peter Mandelson, a key figure in the Labour government, is implicated via his husband, who requested financial assistance from Epstein for tuition fees. The web of influence Epstein spun around the British elite was evidently far wider than previously admitted.

The Court of Public Opinion

For Prince Andrew, the legal jeopardy may be over, but the moral verdict is in. The image of a senior royal apparently engaging in the very behavior he denied, captured in the home of a sex trafficker, is indelible. In the eyes of the public, the "honorable" settlement he paid to Virginia Giuffre now looks less like a nuisance payment and more like hush money.

As the tabloids prepare their front pages, one thing is clear: The Duke of York may never be seen in public again. The doors of the Palace, which he once threw open to Epstein, are now firmly shut to him.