I fully intended for today’s paid newsletter to be a festive palate cleanser: my top ten favorite royal Christmas looks—a little sparkle, a little nostalgia. But between the sheer volume of royal news this week and the small matter of me racing toward the finish line on my book draft…that plan didn’t stand a chance. (That newsletter will be pushed to next week!)

What struck me instead is that so much of what’s emerging in royal news right now isn’t new at all. We have familiar stories, reopened files, and unresolved questions coming back into view, with slightly sharper edges than before. So consider today’s royal news roundup a look at what happens when the past refuses to stay buried. And I suppose, the royal households involved have a bigger headache than I do, being once again forced to respond to things from which they’d much rather have moved on.

Princess Sofia of Sweden’s Epstein Connection

One of the most unsettling examples of resurfaced news this week comes from Sweden, where Princess Sofia has found herself back in headlines over her past connection to Jeffrey Epstein—specifically through her former mentor, businesswoman Barbro Ehnbom.

Newly surfaced emails from decades ago showed Ehnbom introducing a young Sofia to Epstein in 2005, when Sofia was pursuing work in New York. According to a translation, Ehnbom reportedly wrote to Epstein, attaching a photo, “This is Sofia, an aspiring actress who just arrived in New York. She’s the girl I told you about before I left, who I thought you might like to meet. Maybe we can visit before you go on holiday?”