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Ms Maxwell was arrested by US authorities last month on charges relating to Epstein’s alleged trafficking and sexual abuse of young women and girls. She was denied bail and is currently awaiting her trial, to be held next summer, behind bars in New York. The FBI arrested her as part of a wider investigation into a potential international sex trafficking ring which the authorities believe Epstein may have run.

The convicted sex offender and disgraced financier, Epstein, was arrested last summer and charged with sex trafficking of a minor but he killed himself in prison before his trial could commence.

Ms Maxwell has pleaded not guilty.

However, the allegations against her and Epstein have affected the Royal Family, too.

She is believed to have introduced Prince Andrew to Epstein in around 1999.

Their subsequent friendship means the Duke of York has faced intense public scrutiny over their association for the last year.

However, Ms Maxwell also rubbed shoulders with Princess Diana years before her friendship with Andrew.

Journalist Anne McElvoy revealed her take on Ms Maxwell’s character in a comment piece for the Evening Standard last month — and explained how the British socialite got along with the Princess of Wales.

Ms McElvoy claimed: “Ghislaine, while herself on a pedestal of privilege, was armed with a self-confidence so bullet-proof that she could joke about ‘making Diana (later Princess of Wales) cry’ in a world where ‘teasing’ about everything from the wrong boyfriend to the wrong designer could come uncomfortably close to bullying.”

Ms Maxwell and Diana met at a 1984 film premiere of ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’.

It’s not known if this was the occasion that is being referenced in Ms McElvoy’s article, but the socialite was known for moving among the upper classes and so may have rubbed shoulders with Diana on a different occasion.

Maria Farmer, who has accused Ms Maxwell and Epstein of sexually abusing her, also told The Sun this year that the socialite “hated” Diana.

Ms Farmer said: “Ghislaine’s like, ‘look, there we made her (Diana) cry, isn’t that funny? We hated Diana’.

“That’s what she said. I was like, ‘Oh my god, that’s horrible’.

“They were very mean to her, like abusive, but they thought it was really funny. Very, very sick.”

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Ms Maxwell and Epstein were invited to many royal events over the years, including Royal Ascot and parties held on the royal estates.

One of Ms Maxwell’s friends told Tatler last year: “Ghislaine and her friends were very strategic.

“She was a fixture on the London social scene and she would hang out with a group of women who were all pursuing dazzling marriages.

“They wanted to marry money, instead of an aristo, which had become unfashionable by then.”

Many have since speculated that as Epstein’s ex-girlfriend, Ms Maxwell once considered becoming his wife too.

As the daughter of the publisher Robert Maxwell, she was born into wealth and is thought to have been her father’s favourite daughter out of his nine children.

A former Labour MP, he died in 1991 after going overboard from the yacht he named after his youngest child, the Lady Ghislaine.

She struggled to remain in high society when his death revealed a mountain of debt and financial discrepancies within his company, but her friendship with wealthy Epstein helped to revive her status.

A female friend who met Ms Maxwell in the Eighties told Tatler last year: “Ghislaine ran with a fast crowd.

“She was more like a man than a woman, and that’s why men liked her.

“She was sharp and witty, and a night owl.

“She always bought the most expensive clothes — but had absolutely no taste.”

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