GHISLAINE Maxwell has claimed Jeffrey Epstein was once set up on a date with Princess Diana.
The socialite said that the paedophile met the late princess at a high-profile event that appears to have been in London in the 1990s.
She said the bash was organised by Baroness Rosa Monckton, who was one of Diana’s closest friends.
Maxwell said: “I don’t know if she was being set up as a date for him, maybe because she was.
“I don’t want to speak bad of Diana but… I’m not going to do that.”
Her bombshell comments were revealed in audio tapes and a 380-page transcript released on Friday.
They were from a two-day interview convicted child sex trafficker Maxwell – who is serving a 20-year prison sentence – had with US Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month.
In the interview Maxwell, 63, called Donald Trump – who is said to be considering a pardon for her – a “gentleman” who never did anything criminal with Epstein.
According to the transcript, Maxwell said she didn’t introduce Epstein to Prince Andrew , who allegedly had sex with trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre when she was 17, which he denies.
Maxwell said that before she met Epstein in 1991 he lived in London and had “high society” friends including Baroness Monckton.
According to Maxwell, Epstein met Diana at a “big event” and even claimed there were photographs of it.
Maxwell added: “I don’t know if he sat with Diana or he met with Diana and he’d already met her. I don’t know, but this (event), I believe was organized by Rosa.”
While no timeline was given, it appears likely to have been some time in the mid 1990s – as Diana and King Charles were splitting – but before her death in 1997.
In the interview Maxwell offered bizarre reasons for why Epstein, who killed himself in 2019 while awaiting trial, molested children.
She claimed that he found his victims – some of whom were just 14 – “invigorating” and liked how they turned him on to new music.
According to Maxwell, Epstein became more “aggressive” after he began taking testosterone, sometimes using two patches of the hormone a day.
At one point she likened his lifestyle to the TV show Sex and the City , suggesting he was just a Sugar Daddy rather than a monster.
Epstein couldn’t even have sex that much because of a heart condition, Maxwell claimed, contradicting testimony from his victims that he abused three girls a day.
Maxwell was asked about Epstein’s celebrity friends and said he was “friendly” with the model Naomi Campbell.
Epstein did have a friendship with Elon Musk , Maxwell said.
She once visited Richard Branson’s Caribbean island but didn’t think he was friends with Epstein.
Last night lawyers for Epstein and Maxwell’s victims accused her of trying to get a pardon out of Mr Trump.
Brad Edwards said: “Could her purpose be more transparent?”
Sigrid McCawley, who represented Andrew’s accuser Virginia Giuffre, said Maxwell was trying to “recreate history”.
During her trial Maxwell “repeatedly and brazenly lied on the record”, Ms McCawley said.
Former FBI director Andrew McCabe said the “entire thing…is so suspicious”.
He claimed that she was “trying to get some sort of benefit from the (Trump) administration”.
