Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed Princess Diana may have been ‘set up as a date’ for Jeffrey Epstein in new testimony that was made public on Friday. 

Maxwell, 63, is currently serving a 20-year sentence for her role in recruiting young girls for Epstein’s sexual abuse. She alleged that the late paedophile encountered the former Princess of Wales during a prominent event hosted by one of Diana’s dear friends.

The comments were part of the convicted child sex trafficker’s testimony during a two-day interview with US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche that was conducted last month – before transcripts were released to the public on Friday, August 22. 

Speaking of Epstein’s alleged association with the late Princess, Maxwell told Mr Blanche they met in the 90s at a party thrown by one of Diana’s closest friends Baroness Rosa Monckton, adding: ‘I don’t know if she was being set up as a date for him, maybe because she was.’ 

According to The Sun, Maxwell expressed hesitation about ‘speaking bad of Diana’ before confirming: ‘I’m not going to do that.’ 

The disgraced socialite claimed she had ‘high society’ friends like Baroness Monckton during her time living in London before she met Epstein – who died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges – in 1991. 

She said Epstein told her that he met Diana at a ‘big event’ and there were photographs of the pair together. 

Maxwell added that while she wasn’t sure whether this was Epstein and Diana’s first meeting or whether they sat together, ‘this event, I believe, was organised by Rosa’. 

Princess Diana, pictured here at The British Grand Prix in 1994, may have been ‘set up as a date for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstin, Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed

Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted child sex trafficker and paedophile, allegedly met Diana at an event in 1991 that Ghislaine Maxwell claimed was organised by Rosa Monckton MBE 

During the interrogation, Maxwell also denied introducing the Duke of York, who was accused of sex abuse by Epstein victim Virginia Guiffre, to the financier. 

Prince Andrew has denied Virginia’s claims before she died by suicide earlier this year. 

Maxwell repeated the claim that an infamous photograph showing Prince Andrew  with Virginia and herself is ‘fake’ as The Independent noted the name at the centre of the discussion had been redacted in transcripts but was almost certainly Virginia. 

‘I believe it’s literally a fake photo,’ she told US Deputy Attorney General Blanche, referring to the snap believed to have been taken at Maxwell’s London home in 2001. Virginia would have been 17 at the time. 

Maxwell also dismissed Virginia’s claims she had been paid to have a relationship with the Duke and that they had sex at her home in London as ‘rubbish’, claiming she was out of town for her mother’s 80th birthday at the time. 

Maxwell also claimed that Giuffre’s allegations that they had sex in Maxwell’s bathroom were physically impossible because her home is only 900 square feet.

Prince Andrew settled a lawsuit with Giuffre in 2022 for an undisclosed amount.

The Princess of Wales’s friendship with Baroness Monckton dates back to 1991, one year before Diana and now-King Charles announced their separation, as Rosa previously recalled their instant bond in an interview with The Times. 

Maxwell claimed that Epsteinhad told her he met Diana (pictured in 1997) at a ‘big event’ and there were photographs of the pair together

Epstein died by suicide in 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, and his girlfriend Ghislaine is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting young girls for him to sexually abuse

In 2017, the wife of journalist Dominic Lawson, Rosa told the newspaper that she and Diana were introduced by Flecha de Lima, the wife of the former Brazilian ambassador to London. 

‘The reason our friendship was so strong was because she was so needy at that time,’ the charity campaigner added, referring to her strained relationship with Charles. ‘It was straight into, “I’m so unhappy, I don’t know what to do.”

‘We met in the [Brazilian] residence the first time, then we went to lunch at Harry’s Bar. Then literally she rang me the next day and said, “Can I come round? I want to continue the conversation.”‘

In time, Diana agreed to be Godmother to Rosa’s daughter Domenica, who was born with Down’s syndrome, and played her part conscientiously.

Even before that, she had shown touching kindness to her friend.

Some years before Domenica’s birth, Diana supported Rosa when she gave birth to a stillborn child, offering her the chance to bury her daughter in the gardens at Kensington Palace.

Talking to Melissa Doyle on Channel 7 current affairs program Sunday Night in 2017, Rosa said: ‘What an extraordinary thing to do.

‘We had a very, very moving ceremony and she gave me a key to the garden. She said “You come in whenever you want, policemen at the gate will know.” I still have the key.’

Rosa Monckton, MBE is an English business woman and charity campaigner met Princess Diana through mutual friends

Considering how kind the Princess was to her friends, it’s understandable that the businesswoman remains protective of the late princess to this day

The Honourable Rosa Monckton has an aristocratic background and influential connections of her own. As an adviser to Edward VIII, her grandfather, Walter Monckton had drafted the 1936 abdication speech.

In her business career, the luxury goods executive has been Managing Director of Tiffany & Co in London and Chief Executive of Asprey & Garrard.

She has thrown herself into charitable work and is a patron of groups including Together for Short Lives, the Acorn Children’s Hospice and Team Domenica, a group working to support young people with learning problems in teh workplace.

In 2017, Rosa was awarded an MBE for her services to young people with learning disabilities.

One of Diana’s closest confidantes, Rosa has previously revealed that she the infamous Martin Bashir interview for her friend’s downward spiral.

Writing in the Daily Mail, she said: ‘The deceit, the manipulation, the cold-eyed reeling-in of someone so emotionally fragile shocked me profoundly, while at the same time explaining to me the switch in Diana’s behaviour.’ 

Reflecting on the impact of the interview back in 1995, Rosa, now 71, told ITV News she noticed a change in her friend Princess Diana at the time Mr Bashir was dealing with her.

‘She was jumpy, she was edgy, she thought she was being followed. I mean really, extraordinarily different.

‘Everybody knew something was wrong but none of us could put a finger on it.’

Diana, who died in a fatal car crash in Paris on August 31, 1997, herself spoke of her deep and enduring friendship with Rosa in her letters. 

In one such document,  she wrote: ‘You have listened to the anguish and heard the tears, but have led me through the minefield to safety beyond.’ 

Rosa was also one of the last people to see Diana alive before her tragic death. 

Less than two weeks before the crash that claimed Diana’s life, the two mothers had enjoyed a holiday together where they sailed around Greece in a small boat as they carefully dodged the paparazzi.

In the years since her passing, Rosa has often spoken about the kind of grandmother Diana would have been.

Back in July 2013 when William and Kate became parents to Prince George, Rosa wrote a piece for the Daily Mail saying Diana would have ‘relished the role’.

‘She would have been the most magnificent grandmother.’