Royal family New documents vindicate decision to cut Andrew out

When King Charles stripped Andrew MountbattenWindsor of his titles and announced he would be booted out of Royal Lodge, Buckingham Palace said the "censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him".

- Caroline Davies

Four months and more than 3m documents later, Charles must surely feel vindicated on his tough approach.

For while there is nothing to suggest the king, nor any other senior royals, knew then what was to come in the release of the Jeffrey Epstein files, what has emerged has been truly shocking.

The positions of MountbattenWindsor and his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, appear even more grave, and the shadow cast over the royal family and institution even darker. With government pressure mounting on the former prince to testify to the US Congress on what he knew about Epstein, royal sources can only indicate that it is "ultimately a matter for Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his conscience".

From Mountbatten-Windsor himself, we have heard nothing.

He has in the past denied any wrongdoing in relation to Epstein; in particular he has denied the allegation he had sex with Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 and was trafficked by the US financier.

Nothing in the documents recently disgorged by the US Department of Justice shows legal wrongdoing on the part of the ex-prince. But they can be said to raise questions over his judgment at a time when he was a working royal and UK trade envoy.

Recently released undated images appearing to show him kneeling on all fours over an unidentified clothed woman and touching her abdomen are disturbing, given they were taken at Epstein's New York mansion.