Ghislaine Maxwell’s tribute to ‘dear friend’ Prince Andrew in bombshell prison interview

Ghislaine Maxwell has spoken from a US prison of her “dear friend” Prince Andrew, and told of how she “feels bad” for how he has been treated.

Maxwell's comments, published in the Mail on Sunday in her first lengthy interview since her December conviction on sex trafficking charges, will heap fresh embarrassment on the Duke of York, who has sought to distance himself from the disgraced socialite.

“I feel so bad for him,” said Maxwell, who has known the Duke since she was a student at Oxford University in the 1980s.

“Yes, I follow what is happening to him. He is paying such a price for the association (with Jeffrey Epstein). I consider him a dear friend… I care about him,” the 60-year-old said in an interview with Israeli-American documentary filmmaker Daphne Barak, who met Maxwell in the 1990s.

The interview, which took place in Tallahassee FCI, an all-female prison in Florida's capital, was first published in the Mail on Sunday and is set to be broadcast on Monday on ITV.

Questioned on the denial by the Duke's lawyers in court filings that they were close friends, Maxwell, 60, said: “I accept that this friendship could not survive my conviction.”

Prince Andrew, 62, was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages as he fought allegations that he abused Virginia Roberts Giuffre, one of Epstein's victims, as a teenager.

He has repeatedly and vehemently denied the claims. He settled out of court with Mrs Giuffre for an undisclosed sum, but made no admission of guilt.

Prince Andrew declined to comment on Sunday night.

Maxwell's conviction in a New York federal court on five charges last December – including one of sex-trafficking of a minor – is the subject of an appeal, a process which could take years.

Maxwell described life in a cell measuring 10ft by 8ft that is too small for her and her three cellmates to all stand up in.

“It's very far from a cushy country club,” she said.

She lamented the menu on offer for vegetarians, saying she was fed the same meal for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

She revealed she has just got a job working in the Tallahassee jail's law library and education centre.