The Epstein scandal was never a sordid story of sex and power alone. An indictment of how proximity to money and influence once guaranteed impunity in a decaying global order, it is a mirror held up. Those guarantees are crumbling. Prince Andrew was the first grand domino to fall. His fall from royal grace was swift, humiliating, and irreversible. Now, with the Epstein files stuffed with names and cross-referenced phone logs, one question looms: Who’s next? Is it Donald Trump?

A royal collapse

For years, Prince Andrew’s friendship with Jeffrey Epstein was written off as an unfortunate association, but when newly unsealed emails came to light – including one from February 2011, in which he wrote, “Keep in close touch and we’ll play some more soon,” months after claiming to have severed ties – it was clear the rot went deeper.

His catastrophic BBC Newsnight interview sealed his fate. Confronted with Virginia Giuffre’s allegations, Andrew blurted, “It didn’t happen.” Then came his ridiculous defense — that he couldn’t have been sweating because he had “a peculiar medical condition.” British columnist Marina Hyde called it “a masterclass in self-immolation,” and she was right. It was the performance of a man convinced that his titles could still shield him from accountability.

King Charles quickly stripped him of his honours. A Buckingham Palace statement was curt and brutal: “The Duke of York’s military affiliations and royal patronages have been returned to the Queen.” The once-sacrosanct royal system had........

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