Princess Eugenie stood in the gilded halls of Buckingham Palace this week, cradling a secret that should have been the season’s biggest delight. The Palace announced on Monday that the Princess and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, are expecting their third child this summer, per CNN. But in the 'Ghost Era,' even a royal sonogram cannot escape the murky residue of the past.

While the couple prepares for their new arrival, the Epstein scandal continues to haunt the family’s every move. Across the Atlantic, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is preparing to testify before Congress about his own ties to the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, according to Forbes. The testimony follows the release of files that suggest Lutnick’s relationship with Epstein lasted much longer than he previously admitted.

The social X-ray reveals a pattern that no palace PR team can scrub clean. Even the British comedy scene is feasting on the wreckage, with SNL UK recently mocking the elite’s Epstein connections in a scathing spoof called Who Wants To Remain A Millionaire, according to the New York Post. Every time a royal baby is born, the public is reminded of the skeletons in the mahogany closet.

This paper observes that even the most joyous royal announcements are now inevitably filtered through the murky lens of the Epstein files. Whether in the halls of power in Washington or the nurseries of London, the Ghost Elite are finding that their old associations are the one thing money cannot buy its way out of.