Ghislaine Maxwell's new claims add to Prince Andrew's worries

Ghislaine Maxwell, who's in the US prison for trafficking girls for her former lover Jeffrey Epstein, seemingly made thing worse for Prince Andrew as she called the Duke her 'dear friend'.

Prince Andrew, who is already 'paying such a price' for his association with the convicted trafficker, seems to be in hot waters after the disgraced socialite's new claims.

Maxwell told journalist Daphne Barak she had been keeping an eye on Prince Andrew's case during an interview for CBS-Paramount Plus. "I feel so bad for him. I follow what is happening to him.''

Barak, writing in British newspaper The Sun, said Maxwell "appeared shaken" when told Andrew's own lawyers said they were never close. 

She responded as saying: "I accept that this friendship could not survive my conviction," Maxwell said. "He is paying such a price for the association. I consider him a dear friend. I care about him."

Maxwell's warm words may, however, make uncomfortable reading for Andrew, a month after he was allowed a brief return to the public eye to mourn his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, at her funeral on September 19.

Former Federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, told Newsweek: "Andrew tried to distance himself from Ghislaine, saying that they weren't close. Obviously this doesn't help his reputation with her saying they were close."

"I think this has already made things worse for Andrew. Firstly, it's brought the whole issue up again. Secondly, he was denying being a good friend of hers. And now she says he was," Nigel Cawthorne - author of Ghislaine Maxwell and Prince Andrew: Epstein, Maxwell and the Palace - told the same outlet.

However, Maxwell also claimed that she believed Andrew was the victim of "faked evidence." Andrew settled out of court in March 2022 after Virginia Giuffre accused him of rape during a civil lawsuit. He denied her allegations.