Prince Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell had an “intimate relationship” that gave her “unrestricted access to Buckingham Palace.”

PRINCE Andrew and Ghislaine Maxwell had an “intimate relationship” that gave the celebrity “unrestricted access” to Buckingham Palace, a former royal constable has claimed.

Maxwell and the Duke of York’s relationship will come under intense scrutiny as she was sentenced this week to 20 years in prison for her role in grooming girls for multi-millionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

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Paul Page, who served as the royal family’s armed protection officer for six years, spoke of how he often saw Ghislaine coming and going at Andrew’s apartments.

And she had “unrestricted access” to Buckingham Palace – with police officers instructed to simply wave her in when she arrived to see the Duke.

Page, who worked at the Palace from 1998 to 2004, said he and his colleagues believed Andrew was more than just a friend of Ghislaine’s.

“She was allowed in and out of the palace as she wished, day and night,” he told The Sun Online.

“I and my other colleagues have taken the position that they are in some kind of relationship.”

It is well known that Andrew and the British socialite were old friends – they had known each other before she became involved with the perverted Epstein.

And it was Ghislaine who is said to have introduced Andrew to the American, with the royal and the pedophile becoming firm friends for years to come.

Maxwell and Epstein are said to have taken 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre to the socialite’s London home, where she was forced to have sex with Andrew after a night of dancing at Tramp nightclub.

Page recalled that Ghislaine was one of Andrew’s most frequent visitors in the early ’00s – a time when they reportedly became close and when she may have first introduced him to Epstein.

And the cop was clear 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.

“From that point on, I felt they had some form of intimate relationship.”

Page said he and his colleagues have been instructed to keep their names out of the guest book – which is “highly unusual”.

He continued, “We assumed they didn’t want proof that she was visiting the palace, perhaps because she was Robert Maxwell’s daughter – it wouldn’t have looked good.”

She had access like no other person outside of the royal family. She was on another level

Paul page

Ghislaine’s father Robert was a disgraced newspaper magnate, former Labor MP and owner of Oxford United.

He was found dead in the water near his yacht, The Lady Ghislaine, off the Canary Islands in November 1991.

And after his death it was revealed he had stolen hundreds of millions of pounds from his own companies’ pension funds.

Ghislaine is understood to have spent increasing amounts of time in New York after his death – but has remained a fixture in high society on both sides of the Atlantic.

And it may have been a catalyst for her perverted relationship with Epstein.

Page explained: “We waved her in and she went straight to the courtyard and straight to the Duke of York’s apartments.

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“She had access like no other person outside of the royal family. She was on another level.”

And he added that they all knew if she was denied access they would be “yelled at and yelled at” by Andrew.

When asked what he remembered about Ghislaine, Paul said she was “very distant.”

“She didn’t say anything, she didn’t say hello, she just looked at us and then looked away,” he explained.

“Not a friendly person – I would almost say she looked down on us.”

Maxwell’s trial featured revelations about her relationship with Epstein, including a photo of them posing together at the Queen’s lodge in Balmoral.

It is not known when the photo was taken – but it shows how well they had managed to ingratiate themselves with the royals.

‘LOVEY PIGEON’

Andrew denies any wrongdoing in relation to his relationship with Epstein and Maxwell – and insists he did not have sex with Virginia.

He settled a £12million civil case with her out of court earlier this year – although he previously optimistically promised to take the claim to court to clear his name.

Maxwell and Andrew are believed to have known each other for almost two decades before she is said to have introduced him to Epstein.

During his infamous BBC Newsnight car accident interview with Emily Maitlis, the prince dropped a couple of important clues about his friendship with Ghislaine.

He explained that he met Epstein through the financier’s “girlfriend” – Maxwell – whom he had known “since she was studying in the UK”.

The Duke claimed his relationship with the pedophile had always been through the prism of Ghislaine.

Events Epstein and Maxwell attended together – such as at Windsor Castle – were usually arranged by her, with Epstein as a plus.

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Ghislaine and Andrew’s friendship is said to have gained momentum in the early noughties – when he was first spotted with her and Epstein at a tennis tournament in Donald Trump’s resort of Mar-a-Lago in February 2000.

Vanity Fair reports that friends claim Andrew changed his lifestyle as he grew closer to Maxwell.

“Andrew is a very poor judge of character, easily impressed,” a source reportedly told the Evening Standard.

“He’s gone from being a couch potato to a man in the city with nothing better to do than go from one vacation to the next.”

The duo were reported to have been together at least eight times in 2000 – and were spotted at various nightspots in London.

Pictures from this period capture the fact that Andrew has apparently become firm friends with Ghislaine.

The Duke was pictured leaving a “lovey dovey lunch” with Ghislaine at Nello’s in New York in April 2000, where he was reportedly “holding hands with his new love”.

And she and Epstein both attended the Dance of the Decades in June 2000 – a birthday celebration for Andrew, Princess Anne, Princess Margaret and the Queen Mother, who turned 40, 50, 70 and 100.

The two were pictured together at the wedding of Aurelia Cecil and Rupert Stephenson at St Michaels and All Angels Church, Compton Chamberlayne in Wiltshire in September 2000.

Andrew was also photographed at a “Pimps and Hookers” themed party in New York in October 2000, partying with Ghislaine and Heidi Klum.

And this December, Epstein and Maxwell were also pictured at a pheasant shoot, which Andrew also attended at the Sandringham Estate.

Not long after, he was photographed with Epstein and Maxwell on a wild vacation during which he reportedly hit red light clubs and partied with topless women.

The Duke of York, who was then 40 and had two young children, was infamously pictured partying with topless women on a yacht in Phuket, Thailand.

Maxwell is also said to have accompanied him, and the prince and Epstein were reportedly spotted at bars around the island’s resort town of Patong, including one with half-naked go-go dancers.

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Epstein’s “madam” was also pictured frolicking on a throne at Buckingham Palace at the invitation of Prince Andrew in 2002.

And now, four years later, in 2006, just before he was first publicly accused of sex crimes, Epstein and Maxwell were pictured at Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party.

Alongside them was perverted film mogul Harvey Weinstein as they beamed together at Windsor Castle.

But of course, the most infamous picture showing a connection between Andrew and Ghislaine was taken at their London townhouse in 2001.

It shows the Duke with his arm around Virginia Roberts while the socialite smiles in the background – with the image allegedly taken by Epstein.

Andrew has since suggested the photo is fake.

He claims he was actually at a Pizza Express in Woking that night.

Ghislaine was also pictured with Andrew’s ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, with the couple snapped together at an event in December 2003.

She appears to have been a key figure in Andrew’s social life at the time – but the nature of their relationship has never been confirmed.

Earlier, royal author Nigel Cawthorne – who has written books about Andrew, Ghislaine and Virginia – said: “There are always rumors about a man and a woman frequently seen in each other’s company.”

He said Ghislaine and Andrew met at university and hit it off immediately and were often spotted in each other’s company on public outings.

Cawthorne added: “It certainly took a very long time. They seemed very close to each other.”