Royal shock: Epstein says he escorted Princess Di!

PRINCE Andrew’s ill-judged friendship with Jeffrey Epstein has left his reputation in tatters, but he wasn’t the only member of the Royal Family to have been targeted by the late sex offender.

A new book includes a previously unpublished interview with Epstein in which he claims that he knew Princess Diana and had accompanied her to a number of events.

The allegation is made in Too Famous, a new collection of work by the distinguished American journalist Michael Wolff. He asks Epstein — who was found dead in a prison cell in 2019 at the age of 66 — if he went out with Diana.

The super-rich financier replies: ‘I escorted her on occasion.’

Epstein does not give details of where his outings with the Princess took place, and there is no known photographic evidence, but they may have been during her visits to New York, where Epstein owned a £37million town house.

Of course, any relationship between Diana, who died in 1997, would have been long before he was convicted in 2008 of procuring a child for prostitution and of soliciting a prostitute.

By contrast, Diana’s former brotherin-law, Andrew, remained friends with Epstein after he was released from jail, having served almost 13 months in custody. The Queen’s second son stayed with Epstein at his New York home as recently as 2010.

Through his friendship with Andrew, Epstein went on a shooting weekend to Sandringham, the Queen’s Norfolk retreat. He even helped pay off some debts owed by Andrew’s ex-wife, Sarah, Duchess of York.

Last year, this newspaper revealed that Epstein had befriended Princess Diana’s bridesmaid Clementine Hambro. She worked for Christie’s auction house when she was invited to Epstein’s Santa Fe home in 1999 to discuss art. A month later, as his guest, she flew aboard his jet to Little Saint James in the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Clemmie, who is Winston Churchill’s great-granddaughter, said: ‘I was not abused, nor did I see anyone abused. I was clearly very lucky.’