The Duke of York with Virginia Roberts Giuffre at the Belgravia home of Ghislaine Maxwell, right, in 2001

Ghislaine Maxwell is planning to give a television interview in the US in which she will defend her friend the Duke of York, it has been reported.

The daughter of the disgraced newspaper baron Robert Maxwell is said to be in talks with a US network.

Ms Maxwell, who disappeared after Jeffrey Epstein was arrested on charges of child sex trafficking, is apparently ready to stand up for Prince Andrew, 59, after his disastrous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis.

A former girlfriend of Epstein, who killed himself in jail in August, Ms Maxwell is ready to say that Virginia Roberts Giuffre is lying about having sex with Andrew three times as a teenager, according to a report in The Sun.

The newspaper quoted a