Get our daily royal round-up direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Ghislaine Maxwell was so close to Prince Andrew she visited him at Buckingham Palace up to four times a day, an ex-cop claims.

The British socialite, accused of being a fixer for depraved paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, also allegedly enjoyed intimate picnics with Andrew in the grounds – in view of the Queen’s bedroom window.

The revelations by former Met cop Paul Page, who was a protection officer for Andrew from 1998 to 2004, come as the prince faces further scrutiny over his relationship with Epstein.

Mr Page said: “The first occasion I had cause to meet Ghislaine was when the privy purse phoned down and said, ‘We’ve got a guest coming for Andrew but the name is not to be entered in the book’. That was about 2001.

(Image: Getty)

“She turned up in a chauffeur-driven Range Rover and we let her in. Half an hour after that me and my colleague walked through the garden to go back to the police lodge and he was having a picnic with her by the summer house, opposite the Queen’s ­bedroom window.

“One of my colleagues saw her come in and out the Palace four times in one day.”

Maxwell, 58, has known Andrew decades. She is accused of ­recruiting girls for US financier Epstein’s sex slave network but denies any wrongdoing.

Accuser Virginia Roberts says she was trafficked to London and had sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s home in March 2001 – when she was 17. Andrew also strenuously denies any wrongdoing.

(Image: Sonja Horsman)

The FBI is still probing Epstein’s crimes and it is believed Andrew would be questioned if he steps on US soil.

But Mr Page played down talk of a grilling, saying: “I don’t think anything is going to happen. There’s no evidence that I can see that’s gonna come to light that can put him in the frame.

“Even if the FBI request information from the Royal Protection Command, they will get a big fat no.

“They’re not going to get any documentation from the British police in terms of Prince Andrew’s movements or anything else.

“If his legal team thought there was any possibility of indictments coming his way, they’d have shut the idea of doing the TV interview down. So he must have had some guarantees that this isn’t going anywhere to publicly speak.”

Protection

Mr Page added that Andrew is now trying to distance himself from Ghislaine.

(Image: PA)

He said: “He’s obviously been advised to. She’s not going to be afforded the same protection as Andrew, in terms of the FBI investigation. But I can’t see that Ghislaine is going to give any information against Andrew. I just can’t see it.”

Mr Page lost his job when he was convicted over a £3million investment fraud in 2009. But he insists his crime was unrelated to his job.

Epstein admitted procuring teens for prostitution in 2008 and got 18 months. He died last August, aged 66, while awaiting trial on child sex trafficking charges.

Buckingham Palace would not comment last night, ­beyond pointing to Mr Page’s conviction.