PRINCE Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell's friendship has been scrutinised in the recent bombshell court documents released last week.
But the former friend and ex-lover of convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein allegedly shared an "intimate" bond which granted her unlimited access to Buckingham Palace.
Nigel Cawthorne - author of Ghislaine Maxwell: The Fall of America's Most Notorious Socialite - described the pair as "very close" and said they were often together.
Countless pictures show the pair together at functions, parties, and in more intimate settings exposed during trials about Epstein's sex crimes.
The most infamous being the photograph of Andrew, a young Virginia Roberts Guiffre and Ghislaine in the background.
Cawthorne told The Sun that Ghislaine and Andrew had met at university, immediately hit it off and were often seen in each other's company at public outings.
Maxwell 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.
"It certainly went on for a very long time," Cawthorne said.
During his infamous car crash interview on BBC Newsnight with Emily Maitlis, the Prince dropped a few key hints about his friendship with Ghislaine.
He explained he met Epstein through his "girlfriend" - Maxwell - who he had known "since she was at university in the UK".
The Duke laid out how his relationship with the paedophile was always through the prism of Ghislaine, the daughter of newspaper mogul Robert Maxwell.
Events which Epstein and Maxwell attended - such as at Windsor Castle - were normally arranged through her, with Epstein as the plus one.
And Paul Page, who served the Royal Family for six years as an armed protection officer, spoke of how he would often see Ghislaine coming and going from Andrew's apartments.
He claimed she had "unrestricted access" at Buckingham Palace - with cops being told to simply wave her in whenever she arrived to see the Duke.
She was allowed to enter and exit the Palace night and day at will
Paul Page
Page - who worked at the Palace from 1998 to 2004 - said he and his colleagues were convinced Andrew was more than friends with Ghislaine.
"She was allowed to enter and exit the Palace night and day at will," he told The Sun Online.
"Myself and my other colleagues formed the opinion they were in some sort of relationship."
His mind was firmly made up about the nature of their relationship when he saw them having an "intimate picnic" in the grounds of Buckingham Palace.
"It was right outside The Queen's bedroom window," Page told The Sun Online.
"So from that point on, I was under the opinion they had some form of intimate relationship."
Page also said he and his colleagues were instructed to keep her name out of the visitors book - which was "highly unusual".
He went on: "We assumed they didn't want any evidence of her visiting the palace, perhaps because she was Robert Maxwell's daughter - it wouldn't have been a good look."
Page revealed that he and his colleagues simply waved her in and she would go straight up to the Duke of York's apartments.
"She had access like no other individual outside the Royal Family. She was on another level."
And he added they all knew if she was denied access, they would be "screamed and shouted at" by Andrew.
Asked what he remembered about Ghislaine, Paul described her as "very aloof".
"She didn't say anything, she wouldn't say hello, just look at us and then look away," he explained.
She had access like no other individual outside the Royal Family. She was on another level
Paul Page
"Not a friendly person - I would almost say she looked down on us."
Maxwell's trial showed revelations about her relationship with Epstein, which included a photo of them posing together at The Queen's lodge in Balmoral.
It is unknown when the photo was taken - but shows just how deeply they had managed to ingratiate themselves with the Royals.
"There’s always gossip about a man and a woman who are seen frequently in each other’s company," Cawthorne told The Sun Online.
"They’d been together for an awful long time and it appears she [did] the same favour for Prince Andrew that she did for Jeffrey Epstein," said Cawthorne - who also wrote a biography of .
"In other words, trafficking a young woman to him."
It comes as over 1000 pages of bombshell court documents including emails, depositions and legal papers spanning the 2010s were made public by a US judge this week.
The files were part of a 2015 lawsuit filed by Virginia Roberts Giuffre against Epstein's madam Ghislaine Maxwell.
They have revealed further details of the lurid sex allegations made against convicted paedophile Epstein, Maxwell and Andrew.
Maxwell, 62, is currently serving 20 years in prison for sex trafficking and Epstein killed himself in jail in 2019 while awaiting trial.
The same testimony by Juan Alessi revealed this week claimed that Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson stayed at the same Palm Beach home, where Andrew received "daily massages".
Giuffre, a longtime accuser of both Epstein and Andrew, sued the Duke of York in 2021 for battery and infliction of emotional distress.
They settled in February 2022 for a reported £10million, though he has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and claims he cannot recall ever meeting Giuffre.
