PRINCE Andrew allowed Ghislaine Maxwell to “breeze” into Buckingham Palace like “one of the Royal family”, it has been claimed.
The 59-year-old socialite reportedly visited the Palace at a time when she is alleged to have been grooming girls for paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to abuse.
Maxwell has been on trial in New York on charges of sex trafficking and abusing girls, who she is alleged to have “served up” to her former lover, which she denies.
The Duke of York’s friendship with Maxwell and Epstein has come under intense scrutiny but he strenuously denies any wrongdoing.
Former royal protection officer Paul Page has now told Vanity Fair that Maxwell was able to “just breeze into the Palace like she was one of the royal family”.
He said it was regarded as “unusual” because she was the daughter of the disgraced media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
It was thought that it was “not a good look for someone of Ghislaine’s father’s reputation to be mixing with the royal family”.
“But that was neither here nor there to Prince Andrew,” he said.
“As far as he was concerned, she was allowed to come in and go as she pleased. We were instructed not to put her name in the visitors’ book.”
Page, who worked with Andrew between 1998 and 2004, previously told the Sunday Mirror the first time he met Maxwell was in 2001, when she turned up in a chauffeur-driven Range Rover.
Maxwell’s charges include an allegation that between 2001 and 2004 she enticed and transported a girl to engage in at least one commercial sex act with Epstein.
Her and Andrew are believed to have known each other for the better part of two decades before she is alleged to have introduced him to Epstein.
She and the multi-millionaire are believed to have been dating at the time – and the Duke is believed to have subsequently struck up a friendship with Epstein.
It was a relationship that allegedly saw him make multiple visits to Epstein’s homes and his private island, Little Saint James, known as ‘Paedo Island’.
Epstein and Maxwell were photographed together in the Queen’s log cabin on her Balmoral estate in Scotland after being invited by Andrew.
‘COME AND GO AS SHE PLEASED’
Andrew’s friendship with Maxwell is reported to have become more prominent in the early noughties.
He was first spotted with her and Epstein at a tennis tournament at Donald Trump’s resort Mar-a-Lago in February 2000.
It was reported the duo were together at least eight times in the year 2000 – and were seen a various nightspots in London.
Andrew, Epstein, and Maxwell – along with Donald and his then girlfriend Melania – were pictured together in one striking image at Mar-a-Lago in December 2000.
And during this period, Epstein and Ghislaine are said to have introduced the royal to the then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts.
Now aged 38, she is suing Andrew alleging he sexually assaulted her in New York, London and Epstein’s island.
He has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and strongly refuted the allegations made in the lawsuit.
Epstein hanged himself in prison in New York in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking offences.
The Duke of York declined to comment. Buckingham Palace have been approached for a response.
