Prince Andrew’s former girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey was spotted stepping out in Los Angeles yesterday following her appearance in a bombshell ITV documentary about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
The 44-year-old socialite and former ‘It Girl’, who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and the Duke of York’s former love interest, told the documentary, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile, how Epstein had ‘sat back and watched’ as Ghislaine Maxwell went ‘fishing’ for girls.
Speaking to the programme’s presenter, Ranvir Singh, she said she felt like she’d been used as ‘bait’ at the time by Maxwell and Epstein, describing how she’d first met the pair 20 years ago when she was ‘really young and naïve’.
She told the documentary, which aired at 9pm in the UK: ‘Jeffrey was really the frontman and Ghislaine was the accomplice. It was kind of like a Batman and Robin, and they were a double act. I don’t think Jeffrey could have done any of it without Ghislaine.’
Lady Victoria was twice spotted stepping out in LA yesterday, firstly walking her dog in a low-key ensemble, and then opting for a striped cardigan and trouser combo.
Prince Andrew ‘s former girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey (pictured) was spotted stepping out in Los Angeles yesterday following her appearance in a bombshell ITV documentary about the Jeffrey Epstein scandal
Lady Victoria was twice spotted stepping out in LA yesterday, firstly walking her dog in a low-key ensemble, and then opting for a striped cardigan and trouser combo (pictured)
‘Young and naïve’: The socialite, who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, told the programme’s host Ranvir Singh that looking back on her interactions with Maxwell and Epstein she now has a very different perspective of them (Lady Victoria Hervey and Prince Andrew pictured in 2002 at a party in London to celebrate Chinese New Year)
Singh asked Lady Victoria: ‘And Ghislaine was crucial to getting those girls, was she, do you think to those dinners?’
Lady Victoria replied: ‘I think he just kind of sat back and sort of waited for her to sort of go fishing and go find however many girls were needed, you know, to entertain his friends. I think I was pretty much used as bait.
‘You know, looking back at, you know I was really young and naive, and she’s entertaining these, you know, big businessmen. So I didn’t realise it of course at the time, but looking back…’
Looking casual as she walked her dog in the Los Angeles sunshine, Lady Victoria strolled along in animal print loungewear and a bronze padded jacket as her dog walked by her side.
Last week, the Duke of York was told his legal battle with sex accuser Virginia Giuffre will go to trial and the Queen removed his honorary military roles.
Also yesterday, Lady Victoria appeared on ITV’s Lorraine and insisted the ‘very private’ Maxwell was a ‘victim’ of Epstein. The socialite has previously said she had no clue what they had been secretly up to.
English socialite Lady Victoria Hervey, now 44, was pictured walking her dog, D’Artagnan, in Los Angeles on Tuesday after the ITV documentary Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile aired in the UK on Tuesday evening
Lady Victoria pulls along D’Artagnan, her beloved dog, during the walk in the California sunshine yesterday; the socialite, now 44, appeared twice on UK screens talking about the Epstein scandal on Tuesday
Prince Andrew’s ex-girlfriend Lady Victoria Hervey appears in ‘Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile’ on ITV tonight
Lady Victoria Hervey and Ghislaine Maxwell pictured in Hollywood on February 25, 2004
Lady Victoria Hervey (looking towards the camera) stands near Prince Andrew (left) at a party in London in January 2002
Lady Victoria told the morning breakfast presenter: ‘She is a scapegoat right now, so unfortunately for her, she is being taken down for what he has done as well. Some might argue is not quite as fair as it could be.’
The socialite, who spoke to Lorraine from Los Angeles, said: ‘I mean to be honest I think Ghislaine was a victim and is a victim. She was a victim that then became the accomplice as her role changed in that relationship when they were no longer together. She kind of switched sides. I do see her as a victim as well.’
Maxwell, 60, was convicted of facilitating the sexual abuse of minors by her former partner, Epstein, last month on December 29. She faces 65 years in prison, meaning she could spend the rest of her life behind bars.
She was found guilty on five of six counts of sex trafficking – a spectacular downfall for the former London society girl who later moved into the highest circles of New York’s social scene.
Prince Andrew is seen with his arm around Virginia Roberts while Ghislaine Maxwell stands in the background, in a now infamous photo from early 2001
Lady Victoria also told Lorraine on Tuesday that she feels Maxwell is ‘a scapegoat’ and is ‘being taken down’ for Epstein’s crimes
Lorraine went on to question the socialite over her own connections with the pair, saying: ‘Why do you think, if you were just an ordinary girl with no connections, do you think she specifically wanted you in that place?’
Lady Victoria said: ‘At the time I was the IT girl of London, on the social scene, everyone knew me, I was at every dinner event. ‘It was a plus having me on her list of who to invite.
‘It probably kept it more interesting for all the men she was entertaining. Obviously you want to have attractive girls who are the hot girls in London at the time.’
She added that Epstein and Maxwell were ‘definitely a double act’, saying: ‘It wouldn’t have worked with him on his own. It was a lot easier for her to approach other women being a female.
Prince Andrew’s ex girlfriend Lady Victoria insisted on Lorraine that ‘very private’ Maxwell was a ‘victim’ of Epstein
‘Girls would feel less intimated and less scared, rather than a man. It would have been a lot less obvious in that respect.’
Lady Victoria confessed she felt ‘used’ by the duo, but added she ‘had fun at the time.’
She said: ‘I was so naive. People in my situation that were really young, of course we were going to get taken advantage of. We were just a pretty face to have entertain people. I was one of the lucky ones and I’m aware of that.’
Lady Victoria Hervey on the red carpet at Cannes last July
She said she had no idea that anything was amiss during parties with the group, saying: ‘Besides the situation of having a feeling there were video cameras in the apartment, it was social gatherings and dinner parties. It all seemed very fun at the time.’
‘This is in the early 2000s when no one had any idea of what people found out later on but the early 2000s, people wanted Ghislaine and Jeffrey at all their events. They were invited there everywhere.
Meanwhile Lady Victoria said she ‘had followed some of the trial’ but was ‘a bit disappointed’. She explained the public ‘hadn’t learned anything new’ and because the trial wasn’t televised she felt ‘a detachment from it.’
She said: ‘She hasn’t really named any new names yet. I’m hoping…that she will start giving out names. I don’t think we’re quite there yet.’
Meanwhile on her dinner with Ghislaine, Epstein, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton, she pondered: ‘Is it to make them feel important? I suppose so and I think it was business being conducted at the same time through these introductions of powerful different people together.
‘So I don’t know exactly what business deals did happen at those dinners, but for sure, you know, things obviously did.
Lady Victoria continued: ‘She is unfortunately a scapegoat right now, because there’s no one else to blame.
‘So unfortunately for her she is being taken down for what he’s done as well, which some might argue is not quite as fair as it could be but that is the situation she is in right now.’
However, Lorraine argued that the victims consider Maxwell just as guilty as Epstein.
On the well-known picture of Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre, Lady Victoria offered: ‘That was stupid.’
And asked if Maxwell ever spoke to her about her friendship with Andrew, Lady Victoria admitted: ‘No. I mean, she was really quite private about a lot, but obviously they were good friends. You can just tell by the body language when you see people, when they’re good friends.
Ghislaine Maxwell could spend the rest of her life behind bars after a jury convicted her of recruiting and grooming young girls to be sexually abused by the late American financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein last month
Maxwell was found guilty on five of six counts of sex trafficking – a spectacular downfall for the former London society girl who later moved into the highest circles of New York’s social scene. Pictured: Maxwell with Epstein
‘I don’t know what’s going to happen now in terms of the sentencing, how many years they’re going to give her.’
Disgraced socialite Maxwell is set to be sentenced on sex trafficking crimes on June 28. The delayed sentencing was based on the defense attorneys’ decision due to recent ‘compelling’ evidence they say could overturn the trial, as well as Maxwell’s conviction.
Maxwell’s lawyers last week demanded a new trial after a juror revealed he had helped convict the former socialite by telling fellow jury members about his experience of sexual abuse.
She was found guilty of sex trafficking of a minor, transporting a minor with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, and three counts of conspiracy. She was found not guilty of enticing a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts.
Maxwell was convicted after a month-long trial in which prosecutors maintained that she recruited and groomed teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.
Maxwell once had a romantic relationship with Epstein, but later became his employee at his five residences, including a Manhattan mansion and a large estate in Palm Beach, Florida.
Maxwell, who is said to have been Epstein’s madam as well as his one-time girlfriend, is seen posing with the pedophile in evidence photos shown in court
Epstein took his own life at a Manhattan federal jail in August 2019 as he awaited a trial on sex trafficking charges.
Maxwell’s lawyers argued at trial that she was made into a scapegoat by federal prosecutors after his death.
Meanwhile, Andrew is under severe pressure to settle with Ms Giuffre after a New York judge refused to throw out her case – paving the way for a box office trial in nine months to examine claims she was repeatedly forced to have sex with him when she was a teenager.
The decision is a devastating blow to the Duke of York, who now faces a hugely expensive and reputation-shredding court case unless he tries to pay off Ms Giuffre with at least $5 million.
If he chooses not to settle, or if Ms Giuffre rejects any offers, Andrew faces being interviewed by her lawyers in a videotaped deposition in London that could be played in court, although the ninth in line to the throne cannot be forced to give evidence due to it being a civil suit in a different legal jurisdiction.
Additionally, he could simply ignore the case and let the court give a decision in his absence, although this would be likely to damage his reputation further.
Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile will air at 9pm tonight on ITV
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