Lady Victoria Hervey, Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend, has claimed that the widely circulated infamous photo of the disgraced royal and Virginia Giuffre is a fake, after sharing a dubiously edited version on Instagram. The 44-year-old socialite took to Instagram on Wednesday to support the claims made by the Andrew that the image had been Photoshopped during his catastrophic Newsnight interview.
Hervey also claimed that the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of crimes relating to her relationship with disgraced billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein, was nothing but a 'witch hunt'. The claims made by the former 'It Girl' who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol, now gives a twist to the tale.
Bizarre Claims
On Wednesday, Hervey took to Instagram Story and shared an edited version of the photograph that has been seen around the world, which shows the Royal with his arm around the waist of Giuffre. The edited version shows Giuffre standing alone against a grey and yellow wall, with what looks to be a blue coat slung over her right arm.
She captioned the image, "Anyone familiar with this photo?", appearing to suggest that it is a mock-up of the genuine photograph. Hervey has been dubbed "insane" by followers after sharing her bizarre claims. No other version of the photo has been seen before.
She then shared the infamous photo of Prince Andrew standing next to Giuffre, with Ghislaine Maxwell in the background, which was published in 2001.
In a final Instagram story Hervey asked her 113,000 followers: "Do you believe that photo is real? Or what if I told you a survivor of Epstein's told me it's an Irish body double that was edited in." It's unclear if she meant the Irish body double to be Andrew or Giuffre.
Strange Theory
It is not known on what basis Hervey has made these claims. Moreover, much like Andrew her claims too are not supported by any evidence. Giuffre claims she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew on three occasions by Epstein and Maxwell when she was 17, a charge Prince Andrew vehemently denies.
In 2019, during an interview with Newsnight, Andrew had said, "You can't prove whether or not that photograph is faked because it's a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. It's very difficult to be able to prove it but I don't remember that photograph being taken...That's me but whether that's my hand...I have simply no recollection of the photograph ever being taken."
The prince also claimed that he had never gone upstairs in his friend Ghislaine Maxwell's home, which appears to be where the shot was taken.
However, Giuffre told BBC Panorama in 2019 that the photo is original and that she had handed over the original to the FBI in 2011.
Meanwhile, Hervey in her Instagram story has also claimed that Ghislaine Maxwell's trial and sentencing has "become a witch hunt."
"I know Ghislaine is obviously not a saint and should pay back the trauma caused to her 'victims' but lifetime in jail for touching a girls t** 20 years ago and taking them on yacht, private jet and shopping trips. Come on."
The Maxwell, 60, was found guilty on five charges of sex trafficking and other crimes relating to her recruiting and grooming underage girls to have sex with Epstein. When sentenced, she is facing up to 65 years in prison.
She is currently awaiting that sentencing in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York.
"Please can someone tell me what the age of consent is in the UK, I thought it was 17," Hervey wrote alongside a clip from her recent visit on Lorraine in her Instagram Story. "Some of these tales seem to be a case study on regret leading to vengeance."
"This story has been so blown out of proportion. Or has it. Nobody knows. People are literally murdering people in LA and getting out of jail. It's a real life Gotham city blood bath. I know Ghislaine is obviously not a saint and should pay back the trauma caused to her 'victims' but lifetime in jail for touching a girls t** 20 years ago and taking them on yacht, private jet and shopping trips. Come on."
Social media users were quick to accuse Hervey of "switching her narrative." Last month, Hervey claimed in ITV's "Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Pedophile" documentary that Maxwell used her as "bait" to entertain Epstein's friends, saying the pedophile "kind of sat back and sort of waited for her to sort of go fishing," prompting social media users to accuse her of "switching her narrative."
Her comments this time have once again been slammed.
