Ghislaine Maxwell, Kevin Spacey pictured sitting on coronation throne at Buckingham Palace
Photo emerges of Ghislaine Maxwell sitting on Buckingham Palace throne on tour arranged by Prince Andrew — and it gets worse.
The royal scandal that “never goes away” has delivered another blow to the monarchy with the publication of an 18-year-old photograph of Ghislaine Maxwell sitting on one of the Queen’s gilded thrones during a private tour of Buckingham Palace organised by the Duke of York.
Maxwell’s arrest last week on charges linked to the Jeffrey Epstein paedophilia affair proved merely the prelude to what one royal source described as another “embarrassing and damaging” example of Prince Andrew’s “appalling judgment”.
Not only did the 2002 photograph show Maxwell lounging on the Queen’s throne; sitting next to her on the chair used by the Duke of Edinburgh was Kevin Spacey, the disgraced Hollywood actor whose career was derailed three years ago by allegations of sexual misconduct.
“To put this in context, those throne chairs were used by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in the coronation,” said Dickie Arbiter, the Queen’s former spokesman. “This is embarrassing for the Queen. It’s a very sorry state of affairs.”
When this newspaper first reported three years ago that Spacey had been photographed in the throne room during a tour of the palace guided by Andrew, the palace dismissed the story as “speculation” and sources close to the prince were quoted as saying he had “no recollection” of the event.
It was not known then that Maxwell was also present, and it has since been reported that Andrew’s tour was originally arranged for the former US president Bill Clinton, who had left the White House the previous year after eight years in office.
Spacey, who has always denied the allegations against him, was reportedly present as a guest of Clinton; Maxwell was invited as a close friend of Andrew.
Exactly how the duke can have had “no recollection” of such a high profile visit is not clear, but Andrew’s memory may now have been refreshed by photographic evidence of a catastrophic misjudgment.
“It just presents a question mark over Andrew’s integrity,” said Arbiter. “How on earth was that allowed to happen? The photo certainly wouldn’t have been taken by any member of staff. I feel very sorry for the Queen and the rest of her family.”
Hugo Vickers, the royal biographer who knows both the Queen and Prince Philip, declared it “really undignified of royal guests to take advantage of an opportunity like that in such a trite way”.
A senior royal source said of the stream of revelations linked to the Epstein affair: “It never goes away. It still affects the rest of the [royal] family. It’s very disheartening for all of them.”
Another royal source added: “Taking risks of that kind is completely inappropriate. The throne chairs are completely above any other items at the palace, nobody in their right minds would think of sitting on an item of such importance. The whole thing is toxic.”
Maxwell, 58, faces conspiracy, sex abuse and perjury charges that could put her in jail for decades. She is being held at the Merrimack county jail in Boscawen, New Hampshire, a few miles east of the secluded rural property where she was arrested on Thursday. The British socialite is expected to be transferred to a federal jail in New York when government facilities reopen after the July 4 holiday long weekend. She denies wrongdoing.
Her arrest sparked immediate speculation that her lawyers would seek a plea deal with New York prosecutors, potentially reducing any sentence in exchange for information on others who may have participated in Epstein’s abuse.
Andrew has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing or knowledge of Epstein’s perverted activities. One of Maxwell’s friends told the BBC’s Today (Sunday) programme yesterday.that Ghislaine had often told her she would “never say anything about [Andrew]”.
Laura Goldman, a former New York stockbroker who has known Maxwell since the 1990s, said she “felt that [Andrew] was her friend . . . she really felt that in the 90s when her father [the publisher Robert Maxwell] died, that Prince Andrew was there for her in many ways”.
Goldman has previously claimed that Maxwell found Andrew “kind of stupid and naive”. She told the Daily Telegraph: “All these people thinking he is evil are just wrong. If there were girls in the house while he was there, he would have thought they were servants. He is just the kind of entitled person who sees everyone as a servant.”
Whatever the outcome in the American courts, the Epstein affair continues to wreak havoc with British efforts to shield the Queen from the hostility that has been aimed at her son from both sides of the Atlantic.
“She’s a mother who is concerned for the wellbeing of her son,” said Arbiter. “But she’s also the head of state and she’ll be concerned about the wellbeing of the monarchy. What does this say about the wellbeing of the monarchy?”
The lingering effects of the Epstein scandal have become “like a sword of Damocles hanging over [the royal family],” Arbiter said. “What have they done to deserve this? They don’t need this.”
It remains a mystery as to who took the photograph and why it has surfaced now, years after the Epstein affair erupted. Arbiter argued that the Queen’s staff would have had no idea what Andrew’s tour party was up to.
“You can only get away with something like that at the palace if nobody knows about it,” he said.
The picture may have been taken by a member of Clinton’s entourage; someone with a grudge may have made it public, but the motive remains unclear.
A spokesman for Prince Andrew declined to comment on Saturday.
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