There might be some who have had enough of all these seedy headlines and do not want any more Andrew all over their Christmas dinner. They have already formed an opinion and this will only provide further confirmation.
While others will see these latest documents as evidence of the need to press even harder into Andrew’s links to Jeffrey Epstein and his circle. What more is there to find, they will ask.
There are still outstanding calls for Andrew to give evidence to a US Congress committee and the US Department of Justice. And these latest emails will only add to the questions.
“Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?” someone called A in Balmoral asks Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s friend and companion who is now serving a 20-year prison sentence in the US for sex trafficking.
Maxwell replies: “I have only been able to find appropriate friends. Will let you know about some church meetings on those dates.”
She signs off with “kisses”, and the emails seem to be between people who are very close.
The identity of A, who also uses the name “Invisible Man”, is not made clear and we do not know for sure it is Andrew. And there might be some quizzical looks at some of the language in the emails – for instance “Fall” rather than “Autumn”, which is more like American English than British.
But there are lines in the emails that seem to tally with Andrew’s biography, such as talking about when he left the Royal Navy.
Elsewhere in the files, there also seem to be documents detailing arrangements in 2002 for a trip to Peru, with calls from Maxwell for discreet introductions to friends when he is there, with the suggestion from Maxwell of “intelligent pretty fun and from good families”.
All of that could be read in many different ways, innocent or otherwise. And appearing in these files is not any proof of guilt or misbehaviour.
But part of the challenge with this released information is to put apparently random pieces into some kind of context.
The email sent by “A” asking for “inappropriate friends” was sent in August 2001, which is five months after Virginia Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with the then Prince Andrew in London at Maxwell’s house.
That is a claim that Andrew has always strongly denied and he has always rejected any claims of wrongdoing arising from his links with Epstein.
However, further documents show that the US Department of Justice formally sought to question Andrew, asking in April 2020 for the UK government to assist in getting him to give evidence in cases linked to Epstein.
In the event that he would not voluntarily give evidence, the US authorities asked their UK counterparts to compel him.
There were also detailed questions about Andrew’s relationship with Epstein from US authorities, including asking for details for any financial payments between them or any women associated with Maxwell or Epstein.
There could be more questions about what happened to that request. It arrived when the Covid lockdown had just begun and attention was elsewhere.
There has already been some embarrassment for Andrew from the Epstein files, with a picture of him lying on the laps of people in what is thought to be the saloon at Sandringham, with Maxwell in the background.
It is a room in Sandringham where the royals could be gathering this week to watch the King’s message and they might have to erase that other image from their thoughts.