A recent photograph featuring Andrew Mountbatten Windsor reclining across the laps of several women at Sandringham Palace has sparked curiosity, particularly regarding the identities of the women whose faces have been obscured. Ghislaine Maxwell is also present in the image, observing the scene.

In the image released by the U.S. Department of Justice, the faces of six women have been covered with black boxes. This includes the five women who are supporting the horizontal royal and one additional woman standing alongside Maxwell.

The photograph captures the former prince dressed in a black suit and bow tie, smiling as he lies across the laps of the women. His face is positioned closely to the bare legs of one of them, exuding a seemingly relaxed demeanor.

With a grin aimed at the camera, Andrew’s cheek is just inches from one woman’s uncovered legs, adding an air of informality to the scene.

Ghislaine Maxwell, known for her association with Jeffrey Epstein, is seen overseeing this controversial and unsettling tableau.

The US government released the picture as part of the Epstein files, a trove of 300,000 documents that revealed the depraved scenes at the financier’s mansions and included countless images of naked young women – plus Andrew partying it up at Sandringham.

And the chilling snap’s setting is even more damning – showing Andrew‘s audacity as he brought the billionaire paedophile’s sex-trafficking girlfriend into the Royal Family’s inner sanctum.

For the room has not only a great deal of history, but is one of the family’s most important at Christmas.

The saloon room, located at the entrance to the nineteenth century house, is where the King hosts sometimes more than 40 members of the family to watch his pre-recorded speech – a tradition dating back to the times of his mother Queen Elizabeth II.

And the annual ritual is as much a part of the royals festive traditions as the dinner beforehand, as members of the family head there to reflect on the year that has passed as well as to unwind and enjoy each others company. 

The room overlooks the grand entrance hall on the King’s private Norfolk estate and has always been a gathering place for the royals, who often watch TV, play games or enjoy afternoon tea there. 

But now it will also be known as the room where Andrew hammed it up for the camera.

Just visible to the left of Maxwell in the snap is the concealed door to the room in Sandringham House where George V broadcast his first Christmas radio message in 1932. 

Today, the former Duke of York was seen looking glum and deflated as he rode his horse on the grounds of Windsor Castle. 

It is not clear when the photo of Andrew in front of the fireplace in Sandringham House’s saloon room was taken because the images released last night are lacking context. 

But it is known that Andrew hosted a surprise birthday for the now-jailed socialite at the King’s private country Norfolk retreat in December 2000.

The former prince would go on to describe the event as a ‘straightforward shooting weekend’ in his disastrous BBC Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis in 2019. 

Paedophile financier Epstein and Ghislaine were pictured on a pheasant shoot at the King’s private Norfolk estate around the time of the event.

In July 2006, Jeffrey Epstein was invited to a masked ball at Windsor Castle to celebrate the 18th birthday of Princess Beatrice, Andrew’s elder daughter.

Andrew stepped down from royal duties in 2019 but the publication of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.

The former prince has been dogged by allegations that he sexually assaulted then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. He has always denied the accusations. 

Sandringham House has great historical significance for the Royal Family, with the first Christmas broadcast by Charles’ great-grandfather, King George V, taking place at the Norfolk estate in 1932.

After being persuaded by then Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, to do address communities in a bid to foster a sense of community as well as reach the Commonwealth, the monarch’ broadcast the message to 20 million people. 

He began the speech from inside a special small private room Sandringham House with words written by Rudyard Kipling, ‘I speak now from my home and from my heart to you all.’

In the left hand corner of the black-and-white Epstein snap the hidden door can be seen that leads to the room where he recorded the historic broadcast.

Despite the monarch shuffling papers slightly too loudly as well as a wicker chair collapsing, it was a major hit.

Touched by the numerous letters and telegrams congratulating him, King George decided to transform what was intended to be a one-off event into an annual tradition. 

Today, listeners and viewers tune in from around the globe to watch the monarch reflect on current issues and concerns as well as the meaning of Christmas Day while the Royals watch from the Sandringham saloon room.

Meanwhile, Andrew’s daughters Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie may find themselves there on December 25 after King Charles invited them to Sandringham for Christmas. 

The matter has become a logistical and emotional nightmare for the two royals, as they remain equally loyal to King and the firm as well as Sarah Ferguson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, sources have said.

Earlier this week, a source said Beatrice is feeling particularly under pressure as she feels she ‘has to be in three places at once’ on Christmas Day. 

It is believed staying at her new Cotswolds home with interior designer husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi their children and her mother is her preferred option.

Meanwhile, she naturally feels diplomatically obliged to be seen with the rest of the royals at the King’s Norfolk estate.

However, the source also claimed she felt compelled to spend one final Christmas at the Royal Lodge with her father, despite his fall from grace over the Epstein scandal.

‘Unless she makes a decision to pick one side and one side only, she will spend a lot of time in the car,’ the source added.

‘Overall it falls to the princesses to soothe family divisions. They are struggling with Christmas.’

Using a royal helicopter to shuttle from venue to venue was never an option, not least because it would be certain to be a PR disaster. 

The disgraced duke has been discouraged from joining the Royal Family at Sandringham, leaving the wider family to put on a united front at St Mary Magdalene Church on Christmas morning.

Elsewhere, Princess Eugenie, who lives in Portugal, is said to feel slightly less conflicted as she is ‘tempted’ to stay there with her husband, ‘far from all the drama’.

Christmas, traditionally a season that brings the Windsors together under one roof, now threatens to expose every fault line.

The former prince has been dogged by allegations that he sexually assaulted then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre after she was trafficked by Epstein. He has always denied the accusations.

He stepped down from royal duties in 2019 but the publication of Ms Giuffre’s posthumous memoir, and the US government’s release of documents from Epstein’s estate, brought more scrutiny over his relationship with the financier.

It is now six years since then, when the FBI asked Andrew to submit to questioning as a ‘witness’ to help its investigation into the crimes of Epstein.

In the 2000s, Andrew spent weeks as a guest at Epstein’s ‘House of Sin’ villa in Florida where children were forced to dress in schoolgirl outfits and have under-age sex with the paedophile American financier.

Andrew has always vehemently denied accusations by Mrs Giuffre that she was forced to have sex with him three times.

In 2022, he paid her an undisclosed sum reported to be £12million to settle her civil claim for sex assault without any admission of wrongdoing.

Andrew, who stayed with Epstein at his mansions in New York, Florida and the Caribbean, and flew on the billionaire’s private jet nicknamed the ‘Lolita Express’, has always insisted he never saw, witnessed or suspected ‘any behaviour of the sort’ that led to Epstein’s arrest and conviction for child sex offences.

Some of the new photos give a stomach-churning glimpse into the ‘décor’ of Epstein’s homes, which were covered in artworks featuring naked girls. One chilling and unexplained photo features a naked baby in a bathroom sink.

After Epstein died in 2019, Andrew made various pledges to help US investigators, but they accused him of stalling. American prosecutors made a public statement lambasting Andrew for giving ‘zero co-operation’. Then they took the drastic step of asking the British Government to facilitate a formal interview with the then duke.

The Home Office was supposed to be ‘processing’ the 2019 request but nothing ever happened. The former duke has resisted calls from victims of Epstein to voluntarily submit to FBI questioning.

He was ‘at least a witness’ to the investigation into Epstein’s crimes, former US attorney general William Barr said recently. There was no response to a request for comment from Andrew.

Other pictures released on Friday also show Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, posing for a photograph with someone on the street and talking to a woman while sitting on a sofa.

In both images, she appears to be wearing the same outfit, although it is unclear if the photographs were taken on the same day.