Ghislaine Maxwell had ‘unrestricted access’ at Buckingham palace, says former Royal officer

A former royal policeman has revealed to The Sun Online that Ghislaine Maxwell was given “unrestricted access” to Prince Andrew’s apartment at Buckingham Palace.

“She was allowed to enter and exit the Palace night and day at will,” said Paul Page, who was employed by the royal family as an armed protection officer between 1998 and 2004. He explained that he and his colleagues had always thought that she and Prince Andrew had an “intimate relationship.”

Page said that Maxwell “was allowed to enter and exit the Palace night and day at will. Myself and my other colleagues formed the opinion they were in some sort of relationship.”

Page told The Sun that once saw Andrew and Maxwell having an “intimate picnic” on palace grounds “right outside the queen’s bedroom window.”

“So from that point on, I was under the opinion they had some form of intimate relationship,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were given the “highly unusual” instruction to keep Maxwell’s name out of the palace’s visitors book. “We assumed they didn’t want any evidence of her visiting the palace, perhaps because she was (media magnate) Robert Maxwell’s daughter—it wouldn’t have been a good look.”

Page said Maxwell had access to the palace “like no other individual outside the Royal Family.” He explained, “We would wave her in and she would go straight to the quad and straight up to the Duke of York’s apartments. She had access like no other individual outside the Royal Family. She was on another level.”

He said that if access were ever denied to Maxwell, all the staff knew that they would be “screamed and shouted at” by Andrew.

Page described Maxwell as “very aloof,” adding that “she didn’t say anything, she wouldn’t say hello, just look at us and then look away.” Maxwell was “not a friendly person,” he said. “I would almost say she looked down on us.”

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in jail last week for her role in trafficking underage girls for Epstein, who was running an underage sex ring.

One such victim, Virginia Roberts Giuffre, says that Andrew repeatedly raped her when she was 17 years old. Andrew has denied the allegations, insisting he does not recall ever meeting her, despite pictures showing the two together and Maxwell standing right behind them. He settled with Giuffre out of court earlier this year. It is thought to have cost him £12 million ($14.5 million), The Daily Beast reports.