I'm Joanna Coles. This is the Daily Beast podcast. And when we first sat down with Andrew Loney,

I thought we'd be chronicling a single scandal, an errant prince, a disastrous interview,

a few ill-judged friendships. But across four conversations with the historian, it became clear that Prince Andrew's undoing is not a subplot.

It's the spine of a much larger story about power, protection and a monarchy struggling to outrun its own blind spots.

Andrew Loney, with his unmatched reporting on the House of York,

pulled us deeper each time. From the blistering portrait of Prince Andrew's secret deals and his

entanglements with Geoffrey Epstein and Gillen Maxwell to the extraordinary account of the

Princess Royal defrocking. And the whispered plans for a quiet escape to the Middle East.

Then came the most surreal twist of all credible claims that Epstein had tried to hire a British sniper to assassinate Andrew.

An allegation so operatic, it would sound absurd if it hadn't been echoed

by multiple sources. And finally, Loney returned to map a royal family in full-scale crisis. A corruption

scandal widening by the week, a monarchy facing its most perilous moment since the abdication,

and a queen and Prince Philip, who never saw, perhaps they never wanted to see what was actually going on.

So stay with us. This episode brings together our most revealing, unsettling, and frankly shocking interviews with Andrew Loney.

If you think you know this story, you really don't.

Not yet.

Andrew Loney, very good to see you.

I want to say that we were friends years ago before I left for America.

And you have gone on to an incredible career as an author ever since.

Your latest book entitled on Prince Andrew has caused a storm, I think it's fair to say, in the UK.

Prince Harry, as I guess we call him now, vehemently denied, but I want to discuss the denial with you.

One accusation in the book that he hit Prince Andrew on the nose after Prince Andrew insulted Meghan Markle.

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