PRINCE ANDREW adored her and entertained her lavishly at Balmoral and
Sandringham.
Bill Clinton is a friend, so are the Kennedys, and she grew up in palatial
surroundings as the daughter of billionaire media tycoon Robert Maxwell.
However, this week Ghislaine Maxwell was not only accused in American court
papers of being a madam, a procuress for convicted paedophile Jeffrey
Epstein who sexually abused underage girls, but also of having groped
underage girls herself.
Through her lawyers, the 53-year-old has denied every allegation.
Those who know her well claim that she will simply smile and sail on,
oblivious.
After all, she is the daughter of the flamboyant Maxwell — who was nicknamed
“The Bouncing Czech” because of his capacity for bouncing back from
adversity — and her luxury lifestyle continues unabated.
She lives in an $11million Manhattan townhouse, next to actor Michael
Douglas’s ex-wife Diandra, has a personal driver and a housekeeper.
Most of her time is spent flitting from party to party, spending 40 minutes at
one before moving on to the next.
She’s also a qualified helicopter pilot, an accomplished deep-sea diver and is
passionate about a non-profit organisation promoting ocean conservation.
Her father was accused of plundering his Mirror Group’s pension fund to the
tune of £440million.
In November 1991, he was found dead in the Atlantic Ocean off the Canary
Islands, close to his £15million yacht.
That yacht was named Lady Ghislaine, testament to the fact that the youngest
of his nine children was always his favourite.
His partiality to his daughter was so strong that last night one of his
mistresses, who cannot be named, told The Sun that on their first romantic
encounter in a plush hotel suite, he proudly produced a photograph of
Ghislaine.
“My youngest daughter, the baby of the family,” he told her, failing to
mention his other children.
Ghislaine was born days after the death of Maxwell’s oldest son, Michael, who
had been in a coma for six years following a car accident at the age of 15.
She was given a French name in honour of her mother, Elisabeth.
As far as her father was concerned, she could do no wrong.
Although Maxwell was notoriously strict and relentlessly drilled his children
in what he called “The Two Cs” — courtesy and consideration — reducing them
to tears if they didn’t pass every test with flying colours, Ghislaine
generally managed to escape his wrath.
Only once, when she was home from Marlborough College to celebrate her
birthday at the family home at Headington Hill Hall, did Ghislaine feel the
force of her father’s vicious temper.
In his booming baritone voice, Maxwell summoned her to the top of the table
and proceeded to tell her off for swearing, as all her friends looked on and
squirmed at her humiliation.
A source who knew her late father said: “Having a dominant bully like Robert
Maxwell as a father may well have given her a taste for similar men, and
driven her into the arms of Epstein.”
After graduating from Balliol College, Oxford, Ghislaine set up her own
company, selling corporate gifts, before working for one of his newspapers
when her venture failed.
Daddy’s girl Ghislaine’s greatest talent appeared to be wheedling favours from
her billionaire father — a new BMW, a luxury holiday in St. Moritz.
He even made her a director of Oxford United football club.
Ghislaine was 29 when Maxwell died. Distraught over his death, she fled to
Manhattan and threw herself on the mercy of financier Epstein, a former
maths teacher at the Dalton School and business associate of her father’s.
Epstein, ten years her senior, not only took Ghislaine under his wing, but
made her his girlfriend and gave her the role playing hostess at his Upper
East Side mansion, his private island in the US Virgin Islands and his
multimillion-dollar Palm Beach estate.
It was at Palm Beach property that Ghislaine’s magical existence with Epstein
began to fall apart.
He refused to marry her — Ghislaine remains single to this day — but they
remained close and she became even further drawn into his rarefied
existence.
She returned the compliment by introducing him to Prince Andrew and Mr
Clinton. She even took him to a birthday party for the Queen.
But the glittering surface of Epstein’s high life cloaked a sleazy underbelly.
He secretly indulged his perverted appetites for young girls and Ghislaine,
whether as unwittingly as she claims, introduced young girls into his
sphere.
Johanna Sjoberg, a gentle, religious girl, then 21, was first approached by
Ghislaine in the grounds of her university campus.
According to Johanna, Ghislaine took on the persona of a mother hen, a
friendly woman who was happy to offer her a dream job as a legitimate
masseur to a benevolent billionaire.
Five years after Ghislaine introduced her to Epstein, Johanna said that in
Epstein she had “made a pact with the devil for excitement and glamour”.
At one point, Johanna flew with Epstein and Ghislaine to Manhattan, where she
met Prince Andrew and another one of Epstein’s girls, Virginia Roberts,
known as Jane Doe in court papers involving her relationship with Epstein.
Johanna said: “Andrew was very charming. Ghislaine came down with a present
for him — a latex puppet of him from Spitting Image.
“We had a picture taken. Virginia sat on a chair and had the puppet on
her lap.
“Andrew sat on another chair, I sat on his lap — and he put his hand on
my breast.
“Ghislaine put the puppet’s hand on Virginia’s breast, then Andrew put
his hand on mine.
“It was a great joke. Everybody laughed. Ghislaine made a lot of sexual jokes.
She had a very dirty sense of humour.”
But what next for her, now that these shameful allegations which she
vigorously denies, have been made against her?
No matter what happens and despite her reputation being questioned, all who
know her agree Ghislaine Maxwell will probably once again come up smelling
of roses.
Living a spy life
CONTROVERSIAL media tycoon Robert Maxwell died mysteriously while sailing off
the coast of the Canary Islands.
Three doctors performed his post-mortem examination and failed to agree on a
cause.
He apparently fell from the boat in 1991, shortly after it had emerged he had
plundered the pension fund of his company, the Mirror Group, of £440million.
The swindle left thousands of staff out of pocket but the money was repaid
with Government aid.
Maxwell’s death also came shortly after he was accused of spying for Israel by
a ex-Israeli intelligence officer.
The Met police had also started an investigation into allegations he committed
war crimes.
Odd but relaxed
WE asked body language expert JUDI JAMES to analyse this now infamous
photo of Prince Andrew, alleged underage sex victim Virginia Roberts and
Ghislaine. Here is her verdict.
“Ghislaine’s role in this pose is extraordinarily odd. Stepping back from the
prince and the girl should imply she is unwilling to be photographed.
“But her eyes and broad smile are fully engaged, suggesting she wants to be
part of the picture but separate from the duo standing in front of her.
“She looks unworried by their pose and almost keen to give it her endorsement
by grinning.”