GHISLAINE Maxwell used her billionaire father's aristocratic connections to climb the social ladder - and threw wild parties with extravagant seafood banquets and vodka on ice, a pal has claimed.

The Brit socialite, who is keeping a low profile after being accused of working as a 'pimp' for shamed paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was said to be her father Robert Maxwell's favourite child - and he gave her a 'ticket to the elite'.

10 Ghislaine Maxwell with her father Robert and mother Elizabeth in 1987 Credit: Rex Features

“Ghislaine’s parties were known for being classy but also for getting extremely wild,” the insider tells us.

“There would be beautiful women all around, though I can’t say if they were underage or not.

“Basically she hosted and attended the hottest parties and gatherings in town, where people would hook up and let loose – and there would be the finest wines and liquors on tap, plus gourmet chefs laying on incredible food.

“She had a penchant for old school luxury, so caviar and fine champagnes with vodka on ice and wonderful platters of seafood and imported meats and cheeses.

“There would be these canapés and foie gras, with waiters working the rooms to ensure guests had everything they wanted at all times.”

10 The socialite can be seen in the background in the infamous picture of Prince Andrew with his accuser, Virginia Roberts Credit: supplied by Pixel8000

10 Party girl Ghislaine with Trump and Ann Jones at a party in NYC in 1997 Credit: Alpha Press

The disgraced tycoon’s favourite daughter

Ghislaine was nicknamed “The Shopper” when she was studying at Oxford, because of her wild spending funded by Daddy’s millions - and her father also bankrolled her corporate gifts business that ended in disaster.

The luxury yacht, Lady Ghislaine, from which Maxwell fell to his death in the Canary Islands in 1998 was even named after her - and Maxwell once said the only members of his family who deserved to inherit on his death were his son Kevin and Ghislaine.

The tycoon told his Russian mistress Kira Vladina: “I adore both of them. Kevin is so much like me and Ghislaine is a friend.”

10 Ghislaine was said to be her father's favourite child - pictured together here in 1992 Credit: Rex Features

This special father/daughter relationship was witnessed first hand by Ken Lennox, a senior Mirror photographer who was called in to identify Maxwell’s corpse when it was found in the Atlantic and who was there when Ghislaine flew in.

“She was really, really upset. You could tell, this was ‘Daddy’s girl’. She was inconsolable; she could hardly speak. When she saw her mother, her knees just buckled,” Lennox recalls. “She was really devastated. If you look through the Maxwell files, he would take her to events: Elton John’s birthday, football matches.

"She was always there, clinging on to him. She called him 'My Daddy' all the time.”

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Her father’s money gave her a ticket to the elite

Maxwell was a notoriously bullish and overbearing father - but what he lacked as a father he more than made up for in money, which provided status for Ghislaine.

“They were definitely a family crushed by Robert as the all-powerful and sinister patriarch,” recalled the writer Anna Pasternak in the Daily Telegraph, who studied at Oxford alongside Ghislaine and whose sister attended birthday parties at the former Maxwell family home where Ghislaine grew up, Headington Hill Hall, in Oxfordshire.

“This must have been deeply psychologically affecting for them all.”

At college Ghislaine was banned from taking boyfriends home because Maxwell feared any man interested in his daughter had to be a gold digger.

But her father did throw her a 21st birthday party at the hall, demonstrating his controlling streak by turning off the electricity at 11pm because he was irritated by her friends’ choice of music.

10 Ghislaine is accused of working as a pimp for Epstein Credit: Getty - Contributor

A cunning woman

Ghislaine was dispatched to New York initially as a meeter-and-greeter, to pave her father’s way when he bought the city's Daily News.

After his death, she made it her home and soon became attracted to Epstein – another billionaire with a shady past, much like her father.

The two were reportedly briefly an item after which she was said to have facilitated Epstein’s social contacts, flying with him on his private jet and organising dinners for influential people at his homes.

Maxwell’s biographer Tom Bower says she too was just like her father, claiming: “He encouraged her to adopt his worst characteristics of arrogance and rudeness, tempered by charm when required. She also inherited her father’s lust for wealth and power.”

10 Ghislaine and supermodel Naomi Campbell at an event in 2002 Credit: Getty Images - Getty

Wild parties with beautiful women

Other friends of Maxwell's describe how she used to host and attend “extremely wild” and extravagant parties in London and New York.

She was nicknamed "Goodtimes Ghislaine" and even managed to get an invite to the Queen's Dance of the Decades party at Windsor Castle, held to mark Prince Andrew's 40th birthday.

Once she boasted about performing oral sex on Hollywood star George Clooney in the toilets at a party, according to New York court documents released earlier this year.

There is no suggestion Clooney was involved in underage sex, sex parties held by Epstein or any wrongdoing.

10 Media mogul Robert Maxwell on his yacht Lady Ghislaine

10 Robert Maxwell seen on the yacht he named after Ghislaine Credit: Rex Features

'Milking' her links to British aristocracy

“Ghislaine was known for being an extremely cocky character when she hosted or attended these parties in New York,” another insider told Sun Online.

“It’s very clear she milked that card of being closely connected to the British aristocracy for all it was worth. The message she liked to convey was that if anyone wanted to make the scene as an upper crust socialite, they had to be on her good side or they wouldn’t be invited to these kind of exclusive events.

"And to be fair, it worked.

"She wasn’t only close with Epstein but hundreds of influential New York socialites, politicians, celebrities and other power players.

10 Ghislaine was known for hosting wild parties for the rich and powerful Credit: Getty - Contributor

"Of course Epstein and Andrew were her most recognised sidekicks, but she had access to pretty much everyone on the planet – or so she implied, and it wasn’t far off from being true,” says the source.

“She was a huge networker at these bashes, going from famous person to famous person and introducing people who didn’t have a prior connection to each other.

"The likes of Heidi Klum knew that if Ghislaine was in their company they’d meet anyone important who was around, because they just gravitated towards her.

"It clearly went to her head because she had this air about her that was almost regal.

"She was incredibly confident and even now it appears that arrogant streak hasn’t left her – why else would she play games with the media by staging those ridiculous photos at the burger joint?”

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Maxwell has never been criminally charged and has repeatedly denied any involvement in Epstein's crimes.

In a 2015 statement, she rejected allegations that she has procured women for Epstein and yet all this speculation has tarnished the Maxwell name, once again.