In the lavish shadows of Jeffrey Epstein’s New York mansion, Johanna Sjoberg sat on Prince Andrew’s lap for what began as a playful photo—until the royal’s hand suddenly reached out and groped her breast.
The moment, captured in court testimony, unfolded in 2001 alongside Virginia Giuffre and a grotesque Spitting Image puppet of Andrew himself. As the group posed, the puppet’s hand was placed on Giuffre’s chest while Prince Andrew mirrored the act on Sjoberg—turning a bizarre celebrity encounter into an alleged violation that left her stunned and humiliated.
Sjoberg, recruited under the pretense of innocent work for Epstein, later described the incident under oath, detailing how the future king crossed a line in plain sight. Prince Andrew has long denied the claims, calling them categorically untrue.
Yet the memory lingers as a chilling symbol of power unchecked in Epstein’s orbit.
In the lavish shadows of Jeffrey Epstein’s New York mansion, Johanna Sjoberg sat on Prince Andrew’s lap for what began as a playful photo—until the royal’s hand suddenly reached out and groped her breast.
This moment, captured in court testimony, unfolded in 2001 alongside Virginia Giuffre and a grotesque Spitting Image puppet of Prince Andrew himself. As the group posed for the picture, the puppet’s hand was placed on Giuffre’s chest while Prince Andrew mirrored the act by placing his hand on Sjoberg’s breast—transforming a bizarre celebrity encounter into an alleged violation that left her stunned and humiliated.
Johanna Sjoberg, a young woman recruited under the pretense of innocent work for Epstein, later described the incident under oath. She testified that Ghislaine Maxwell led her upstairs to retrieve a caricature puppet of Prince Andrew from a closet—a prop from the BBC’s famous satirical show Spitting Image. The puppet was brought down and presented as a “great joke.” Epstein, Maxwell, Giuffre, Andrew, and Sjoberg gathered together. They decided to take a photo: Virginia Giuffre and Andrew sat on a couch, the puppet was placed on Giuffre’s lap, and Sjoberg sat on Andrew’s lap. According to Sjoberg’s deposition from her May 18, 2016, testimony in the Giuffre v. Maxwell case: “They put the puppet on Virginia’s lap, and I sat on Andrew’s lap, and they put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, and Andrew put his hand on my breast, and they took a photo.”
The incident occurred in plain sight, in front of multiple people, yet it carried a clear element of violation. Sjoberg recounted feeling shocked, even though the moment was disguised as “fun.” She had been recruited by Epstein with promises of simple massage work and other tasks, but soon found herself drawn into his web of power and sexual exploitation. Epstein’s Manhattan townhouse—the site of the event—was a symbol of opulence and secrecy, its thick walls concealing countless wrongdoing.
Prince Andrew has repeatedly and vehemently denied the allegations. In his widely publicized 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, he claimed no recollection of meeting Sjoberg or Giuffre and described the accusations as “categorically untrue.” Buckingham Palace has similarly stated that Sjoberg’s claims are “categorically untrue.” In 2022, Andrew reached a civil settlement with Virginia Giuffre, paying an undisclosed sum to resolve her lawsuit without admitting any legal liability. Nevertheless, the image of him posing beside a puppet of himself, in the company of Epstein and Maxwell—both later convicted in connection with sex trafficking—continues to haunt public perception.
This memory endures as a chilling symbol of unchecked power within Epstein’s orbit. It exposes how those in positions of authority can exploit their status to cross ethical boundaries, even when actions occur openly in front of others. In Epstein’s world, where young women were lured with promises and money, such “playful” moments often masked deeper abuse. Johanna Sjoberg, though not an underage victim like some others, still carries the pain of that violation—a scar from the intersection of power and desire in the shadows of one of the 21st century’s most notorious scandals.
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