Prince Andrew needs the backing of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell like he needs a “hole in the head,” royal friends say.
In an explosive interview behind bars, the disgraced socialite, jailed in the US for 20 years after being found guilty of being a co-conspirator with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, described the Duke of York as a “dear friend”.
Maxwell also suggested that a photograph of Prince Andrew with his own sexual assault accuser, Virginia Giuffre, was “fake”, did not deny suggestions that she and the Duke had been a couple, and stated: “I care about him”.
His startling comments, in a world-exclusive prison interview with The Mail on Sunday, contradict Andrew when he told a US court that they had not been close to Ms Maxwell, described during her trial as a ‘sophisticated predator’.
Hours after the interview was published, Prince Andrew was seen looking ashen as he drove around the Windsor estate with ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.
And now, friends of Andrew have suggested that Ms Maxwell’s comments “haven’t been much help” to the duke, who continues to brush off his own sexual assault allegations following his decision to settle with Ms. Giuffre in his US civil case Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
A royal friend reportedly told The Sun today: “Getting words of support from a convicted sex trafficker isn’t very helpful.” The friend also reportedly told the newspaper that he needs Maxwell’s backing “like a hole in the head.”
Prince Andrew needs the backing of convicted sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell like he needs a “hole in the head,” royal friends say. In an explosive interview behind bars, the disgraced socialite, jailed in the US for 20 years after being found guilty of being a co-conspirator with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, described the Duke of York as a “dear friend.” .
Maxwell also suggested that a photograph of Prince Andrew with his own sexual assault accuser Virginia Giuffre (pictured) was “fake”, did not deny suggestions that she and the Duke had been a couple, and stated: “I care about him.” .
It comes as Andrew looked ashen today when he was spotted with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, hours after Mrs Maxwell had called him “dear friend”.
Both the Duke and Duchess of York looked somber when they were seen in public driving through Windsor the day after Sarah’s birthday.
The comments by Maxwell, 60, a convicted sex trafficker described in court as a “sophisticated predator”, deal a devastating blow to the Duke’s hopes of returning to public life.
Maxwell, who was convicted of helping Epstein molest teenagers, did not deny suggestions that she and Andrew had been a couple, stating, “I care about him.”
Her comments come as the MoS today reveals a new photograph of the disgraced former socialite taken at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in New York this year before she was transferred to a prison in Florida to serve her term. 20 year sentence.
Prince Andrew with Sarah Ferguson in his car just hours after Ghislaine gave her interview
The couple looked incredibly serious as they drove the Range Rover through beautiful Windsor.
Maxwell, who was convicted of helping Epstein (pictured together) molest teenagers, did not deny suggestions that she and Andrew had been a couple.
Maxwell was prepared to discuss her friendships with some of the rich and powerful men connected to her and Epstein, including former President Clinton (all pictured together)
Andrew, 62, was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages in January as he battled allegations that he molested Mrs Roberts, one of Epstein’s victims, as a teenager in London, Manhattan and the US Virgin Islands. USA
He has repeatedly and vehemently denied the claims. He settled out of court with Mrs. Roberts, now using her married name Giuffre, for an undisclosed sum, but did not admit her guilt.
A legal document submitted to a US court in January by the Duke’s lawyers contained 41 separate denials of the allegations made by Ms Roberts, including her claim that “Prince Andrew was a close friend of Ghislaine Maxwell”. .
But in his interview with MoS, Maxwell spoke in glowing terms of his friendship with the Duke. “I feel so bad for him,” said the disgraced former socialite, who has known Andrew since she was a student at Oxford University in the 1980s.
‘Yes, I follow what is happening to him. He is paying such a high price for the association. [with Jeffrey Epstein]. I consider him a dear friend… I care about him.’
Maxwell’s explosive comments about their friendship contradict Andrew’s denial in a US court that they had been close.
Prince Andrew has always denied claims that he abused Virginia Roberts, one of Epstein’s victims, but settled with her out of court.
Asked about Andrew’s lawyers’ denial that they were close friends, Maxwell said: “I accept that this friendship could not survive my conviction.”
She dismissed a photograph, first revealed by this newspaper, of the Prince with his arm around Mrs Roberts at Maxwell’s home in Belgravia, central London, in March 2001, saying: “I don’t recognize that photo and I don’t think so.” it’s a real picture. There are so many things wrong with that. There is no original and there is no real image and there are so many other things besides that I can barely get into… I don’t know how many points there are but there are more than 50 problems with the image.’
Earlier this year, Euan Rellie, a longtime friend of Maxwell’s, told ITV that he believed she and Andrew had “probably been boyfriends in the past”.
Asked about press reports that they were “like a couple, an article,” Maxwell said he would not address such speculation until after the appeal against his conviction. I have read, seen, heard and been told of so many monstrous inaccuracies that I cannot begin to separate them all. If I select one and then don’t refer to all the others, she’ll say, ‘Well, she said no to this, what about all the others?’ I’m not going to discuss anything of that nature until after the appeal.
He has been in jail since July 2020 when more than 20 armed FBI agents raided his 156-acre, £800,000 home in New Hampshire.
Maxwell, pictured with Epstein, complained she has been portrayed as a ‘wicked witch’ Disney character and accused the media of ‘monstrous inaccuracies’
The MoS interviewed her on June 22 of this year at the MDC, six days before she was sentenced, and then weeks after she was transferred to the Federal Correctional Institution in Tallahassee, a low-security jail in Florida.
She was prepared to discuss her friendships with some of the rich and powerful men connected to her and Epstein, including former President Clinton.
“It was a special friendship, which continued through the years,” he said of Clinton. We had a lot in common. I feel sorry that she is one more victim, just because of her association [with Epstein].’
He also spoke of his thanks to former President Trump, who wished him well after his arrest.
‘I was so grateful when he wished me well. She got bad means for it, but she dared while others didn’t. She gave me a big boost.
Maxwell said the food at the MDC was “really terrible” and that he was once so hungry he ate Vaseline. She is now in a cell that is 10 feet by 8 feet and too small for her and her three cellmates to stand up. “It’s a long way from being a comfortable country club,” she said.
After Epstein killed himself while awaiting trial, prison bosses placed her on suicide watch ahead of her sentencing. Maxwell, who said she had never contemplated taking her own life, described her wearing an anti-suicide gown, a long robe made of thick nylon, adding: “It strips you of any shred of dignity you have left.” They have you without clothes, and they put you in a suicide gown, which has Velcro straps. So there is nothing to protect your modesty.
The MoS revealed in June that a fellow inmate at the MDC had bragged that she was going to murder Maxwell, claiming there was a $1 million bounty on her head. Maxwell confirmed this weekend that a woman had threatened to kill her while she slept.
Maxwell now works in the prison’s law library, where he helps other inmates with their cases.
Prince Andrew declined to comment last night.
