Two newly revealed pictures showing a grinning Prince Andrew as well as Ghislaine Maxwell astride a Harley-Davidson motorcycle were once proudly showed off inside sexual predator Jeffrey Epstein’s lair.
The image, which sat next to a framed photograph of billionaire paedophile Epstein at his Florida retreat dubbed ‘Pleasure Palace’ in Palm Beach, shows a smiling Andrew in his younger years.
Another of the financier’s prized pictures shows a beaming Maxwell, baring a snake tattoo on her lower back, as she sits astride the classic American motorcycle.
The Duke of York, 61, had previously denied making frequent visits to Epstein’s Florida home, despite the former housekeeper Juan Alessi claiming Andrew spent ‘weeks at a time’ at the property when he was working there.
Sources warned the revelation of a picture being proudly displayed at Epstein’s home was ‘incredibly damaging’ for the embattled royal.
One told the Sun: ‘Epstein cultivated powerful friends and would show them off in pictures around all of his homes.
‘This is incredibly damaging for Prince Andrew because it shows how highly Jeffrey prized his friendship with a senior member of the Royal Family. His picture was shown off in Jeffrey’s home like a trophy.’
Buckingham Palace did not respond to requests to comment from MailOnline.
A grinning image of Prince Andrew, which sat next to a framed photograph of billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein at his Florida retreat dubbed ‘Pleasure Palace’ in Palm Beach, shows the Duke of York in his younger years
Another of the financier’s prized pictures shows a beaming Ghislaine Maxwell, baring a snake tattoo on her lower back, as she sits astride the classic American motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson
Other newly released pictures showed the financier donning a kilt as he poses with Ghislaine Maxwell (above), who is pictured elsewhere riding a motorbike near Scotland’s Skibo Castle
Sources indicated the scandal-hit royal faces further public scrutiny as news of the picture emerged.
The source continued: ‘Andrew’s reputation is hit every time something like this emerges – and he is already facing another year of further lurid headlines.’
In other snaps released on Saturday, Maxwell and Epstein are seen smiling as they held a private audience with Pope John Paul II in the Vatican in the early 2000s.
MailOnline understands the pair, who are pictured in conversation and holding hands, were blessed by the pontiff around 2003,
In his 2019 Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew admitted he had visited Epstein’s Florida home, but denied making repeated visits.
He explained: ‘I definitely did not visit his Palm Beach house three or four times a year, absolutely not. In total, probably four times in total throughout the time that I knew him.
Maxwell’s legal team has repeatedly made claims about her alleged mistreatment behind bars. She is shown in prison earlier this year with ‘a black eye’
‘In fact probably that was the place that…if you see what I mean, he was in the house more there than in other…in other places that I was at. But it was usually because I was going…I was going through and on somewhere else so it was a day, that was it.’
Other newly released pictures showed the financier donning a kilt as he poses with Ghislaine Maxwell, who is pictured elsewhere riding a motorbike near Scotland’s Skibo Castle.
It comes as Maxwell faces a six week trial at federal court in New York over alleged abuse, procurement of young women and trafficking crimes dating back decades. She faces more than 80 years in jail if convicted on all charges.
Her lawyers are expected to argue she is being punished by proxy for Epstein’s heinous crimes because, as one source close to the case maintains, ‘someone has to pay for what he did’.
In a world exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday after her $28million (£21M) bail application was denied for the fourth time, Maxwell claimed negative media coverage while she has been in custody and the deliberate withholding of evidence have made it ‘impossible’ for her to receive a fair trial.
The pictures were proudly displayed at Epstein’s £13.7m Palm Beach home (pictured) that was dubbed ‘Pleasure Palace’
Speaking from her 10ft by 12ft prison cell inside New York’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, where she has spent the past 16 months in solitary confinement, she said: ‘I’m overwhelmed by feelings of sadness and shock at the grotesque and untrue narratives that are total fabrication and bear no resemblance to reality.
‘I’m terrified the overwhelmingly negative coverage will poison my jury pool and affect the outcome of my trial, despite the evidence which I feel confident will prove my innocence.
‘I look forward to having my day in court to prove I played no part in Epstein’s crimes. I am innocent.’
Friday marked the latest development in the Epstein saga, as the Duke of York faces a US lawsuit from Virginia Roberts Giuffre who claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew.
The Duke of York also faced a fresh headache this week when campaigners and experts warned his finances should be investigated by MPs and tax authorities.
The Duke of York, 61, had previously denied making frequent visits to Epstein’s Florida home, despite the former housekeeper Juan Alessi claiming Andrew spent ‘weeks at a time’ at the property when he worked there. Pictured: Andrew with Epstein in Central Park, New York in 201
In a world exclusive published in The Mail on Sunday, Ghislaine Maxwell spoke of the hell of her life in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, saying that conditions are so bad a rat would sit beside an open sewer in her cell as she went to the toilet (Pictured: Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein at an event in New York in 1995)
Prince Andrew faced mounting scrutiny on Tuesday over whether he broke the Royal Family’s conduct rules by accepting a £1.5million off-shore payment from Tory donor and long-term friend David Rowland.
The Queen’s scandal-hit second son received the payment days before he paid off a loan from the financier’s own Luxembourg bank.
Buckingham Palace conduct rules state that royals should ‘never accept gifts of money, or money equivalent, in connection with an official engagement or duty’.
The Duke of York has previously been accused of attending naked pool parties and receiving massages by Epstein’s former butler Juan Alessi, 70.
Epstein’s Palm Beach mansion, dubbed ‘Pleasure Palace’, was sold to a Florida developer for a reported $18 million
The millionaire financier bought the property in 1990 for $2.5 million, according to records
Demolition crews pulled down the notorious Florida mansion where sex offender and financier Jeffery Epstein sexually assaulted young girls in April 2021
Alessi, who started working for Epstein in 1991, has previously been interviewed by the FBI, police and victims’ lawyers and claimed the Prince stayed for ‘weeks at a time’ in a sworn statement to Palm Beach police in 2005.
Prince Andrew has consistently denied all sexual allegations made against him.
Epstein, 66, killed himself in a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges that alleged he abused women and girls under the age 18 at the Florida estate and his Manhattan mansion in the early 2000s.
The waterfront property became the epicentre where he groomed and sexually assaulted underage girls and women as part of a sprawling sex trafficking scheme, prosecutors said.
The house was where the crimes that would eventually lead to his downfall were first reported in 2005.
Epstein had been recruiting underage girls for ‘massages’ from Palm Beach high school and one eventually confessed to her mother what was going on, who then went to the police.
Prince Andrew stepped back from frontline royal duties in 2019 after further allegations came to light. Epstein (pictured) died in his prison cell while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges
Friday marked the latest development in the Epstein saga, as the Duke of York faces a US lawsuit from Virginia Roberts Giuffre who claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew. The Duke of York has consistently denied all sexual allegations made against him
The girls would be hired to massage Epstein in their underwear or totally naked. Often the massages progressed to sexual touching as Epstein allegedly used vibrators on the girls and masturbated.
He paid them hundreds of dollars at a time with another $200 going to other schoolgirls who recruited them to go to mansion on Palm Beach’s El Brillo Way.
Dozens of victims were underprivileged middle and high school girls recruited in and around Palm Beach County between 1998 and 2006.
Earlier this year, demolition crews ripped down the notorious Palm Beach mansion where the financier sexually assaulted young girls.
The property, which had stood since 1952 and was bought by Epstein in 1990 for around £2million, included a main house, a pool cabana building and another staff house – all of which were demolished.
Developer Todd Michael Glaser purchased the sprawling Palm Beach estate for $18.5million (£13.7m) and he sighed ‘finally’ as the first bulldozers began raising the house of horrors to the ground on April 18.
Glaser, who has previously said it would be personally satisfying to tear down the mansion due to its horrific history, said he plans to replace it with a 14,000-square-foot ‘Art Moderne home’.