Epstein, a former financier and convicted sex offender, was arrested last summer over sex trafficking charges. However, he killed himself in prison before his trial. His longtime associate Ghislaine Maxwell was then arrested last month and charged for multiple offences related to Epstein’s sexual abuse of young women and girls between 1994 and 1997. This is part of the US authorities’ wider investigation into Epstein’s alleged international sex trafficking ring.
Ms Maxwell has pleaded not guilty and will remain in custody until her trial in 2021.
The British socialite is thought to have introduced Prince Andrew to Epstein in 1999, which marked the beginning of a long friendship.
The Daily Mail has also claimed that Andrew welcomed Epstein to the Queen’s private Scottish retreat, Balmoral the same year they met.
Ms Maxwell and Epstein were then photographed together in Florida with Andrew, at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Florida in February 2000.
The next month, Ms Maxwell was pictured sitting next to Andrew at a Ralph Lauren fashion show at New York Fashion Week.
Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew (Image: Getty)
Epstein and Andrew together in Florida in 2000 (Image: Getty)
The public display of their friendship was an “exquisite moment of triumph and redemption” for her, according to writer Peter Fearon at the time.
Writing in the New York Post, the journalist explained: “All eyes were on her and the man at her side: Britain’s Prince Andrew.”
He added that “just a short time ago people spat the name Maxwell”, due to Ms Maxwell’s father, Robert Maxwell.
The tycoon disappeared mysteriously in 1991 from his yacht — named the Lady Ghislaine — leaving a media empire in tatters due to debt.
The New York Post also alleged that her father’s reputation forced Ms Maxwell to walk around London in a wig to avoid recognition.
However, Ms Maxwell revived her reputation through her association with Andrew during their 2000 public appearance.
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Royal news: Timeline of some of Epstein’s events with the Royal Family (Image: Express.co.uk/Getty)
Mr Fearon explained: “The public gesture of friendship by Britain’s most eligible royal was a signal to the world that the once reviled Maxwells were back.”
A family friend told him: “Being out with Prince Andrew was a startling social coup. It made everyone stand up and take notice.”
Ms Maxwell’s friendship with Epstein was founded in that “he provided her with a lot of security and confidence” after her father’s death, while she “provided him with prestige” and contacts, another friend told the New York Post in 2000.
Photographs of Epstein, Ms Maxwell and Andrew together at Royal Ascot races from summer 2000 were also revealed for the first time last December on BBC Panorama.
Epstein and Ms Maxwell were both dressed to the clothing standards of the royal enclosure — a part of the races which can only be accessed through invitation.
The pair are believed to have joined the exclusive area on Ladies’ Day, June 22, 2000.
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Prince Andrew with Ghislaine Maxwell at Royal Ascot in 2000 (Image: Getty)
Other royals pictured attending the special day include the Queen Mother, Prince and Princess Michael of Kent — and the Queen herself.
The pair may have brushed shoulders with other senior members of the Royal Family during the same month.
Both were invited to Andrew’s joint birthday party to celebrate his 40th.
He had joined forces with his 50-year-old sister Princess Anne, 70-year-old aunt Princess Margaret and 100-year-old grandmother, the Queen Mother for a party hosted by the Queen in Windsor Castle in June.
Last month, the Mirror Online obtained a photograph of Ms Maxwell sitting on the Queen’s throne in Buckingham Palace.
The report claimed the photograph was taken in 2002.
Ghislaine Maxwell and Sarah Ferguson together in 2003 (Image: Getty)
Buckingham Palace declined to comment when approached by the Mirror.
Then she and Epstein were invited to Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party in 2006.
In 2010, Epstein stepped in to provide Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson with £15,000 — which some say was negotiated by the Duke of York — to assist with her personal debt.
However, the following year she admitted it was an error of judgement, especially after his 2008 conviction for prostituting minors.
Andrew also left his role as Special Trade representative for the UK due to the negative publicity his association with Epstein brought — especially as he had been pictured with Epstein shortly after his arrest, in New York in 2010.
However, Epstein and Ms Maxwell’s social contact with the royals extends beyond Andrew’s immediate family, too.
Christina Oxenberg is Andrew’s second cousin once removed — through Prince Philip and her grandmother Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark — and also attended Epstein’s dinner parties in the Nineties in New York with Ms Maxwell.
Ghislaine Maxwell and her family (Image: Getty)
Ghislaine Maxwell with her father the media tycoon Robert Maxwell (Image: Getty)
She told Town & Country last year that Epstein and Ms Maxwell “saw a high-status target in Prince Andrew”.
She claimed: “They were grifters and he was low-hanging fruit. He really was a hapless sap.
“But he’s my cousin so I love him, and I understand that being a dummy doesn’t make you a bad guy.”
The Mirror also revealed last month that the Earl of Snowdon, known professionally as David Linley, was included in Epstein’s list of contacts in his infamous black book.
The Earl is the Queen’s nephew, the son of Princess Margaret.
According to , Andrew had 16 numbers to his name, including numbers for Balmoral and Sandringham Palace.
He also had 18 phone numbers for Sarah Ferguson.
Epstein and Maxwell were close for years (Image: Getty)
It is not suggested that any one named in Epstein’s book of contacts committed any wrongdoing or ever met him in person.
Andrew has been accused of having sex with the then 17-year-old Virginia Roberts on three occasions around 2001, who claims she was being trafficked by Epstein and Ms Maxwell at the time.
Buckingham Palace has denied all allegations.
A spokesman stated: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.
“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact or relationship with Virginia Roberts.
“Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
In an interview with BBC Newsnight last November, Andrew also said he had “no recollection” of ever meeting Ms Roberts.
He added that he could not have had sex with her in March 2001 because he was at Pizza Express with his daughter Beatrice on the same day.
He also added that he “did not regret his friendship” with Epstein but admitted he should not have visited him in New York in 2010 to break off their friendship.
Ms Maxwell once met Princess Diana too, years before her friendship with Andrew is thought to have begun.
The two women met at the 1984 premiere of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.
Writing in the Evening Standard in July this year, journalist Anne McElvoy claimed Ms Maxwell was “armed with a self-confidence so bullet-proof that she could joke about ‘making Diana cry’”.
Ms Maxwell will remain at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in New York until her trial next year.
