Prince Andrew’s Ex-Girlfriend Claims Photo With Accuser is Fake

Lady Victoria Hervey, Prince Andrew's ex-girlfriend, has made a bold claim that the infamous photo of the Duke with his accuser, Virginia Dufresne, is fake.

Ms Dufresne is seeking unspecified damages from the Duke of York in a civil case in the US over alleged abuse, which he vehemently denies.

Ms Hervey, who briefly dated the Prince in 1999, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share her thoughts with her 113,000 followers.

She suggested that the image may have been photoshopped, a claim also made by the Duke in his 2019 Newsnight interview.

In the edited version of the picture, shared by Ms Dufresne, she is seen standing alone against a grey and yellow wall with what appears to be a blue coat slung over her right arm.

Lady Victoria captioned the image, “Anyone familiar with this photo?”

seeming to suggest that it's a mock-up of the original image.

No other version of the photo has been seen before.

She then posted the original photo from early 2001, in which Ghislaine Maxwell stands in the background with the caption, “Do you believe that photo is real?

Or what if I told you that a survivor of Epstein told me that it's an Irish body double that was edited in?”

Ms Hervey claimed to show another clue as she circled a blonde-haired woman in a picture with Epstein.

Previously, Prince Andrew told BBC's Newsnight that the photo, said to have been taken in the upstairs of Jeffrey Epstein's London home, may have been faked.

He said, “From the investigations that we've done, you can't prove whether that photograph is faked or not because it is 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 said he thought that he had never been upstairs in his friend Ghislaine Maxwell's house, where the photo appears to have been taken.

But Ms Dufresne told the BBC Panorama in 2019 that the photo is genuine, and she gave the original to the FBI in 2011.

The UK High Court has been asked to help secure evidence ahead of the case, which looks set to go to trial.

According to Standard.co.uk, the presiding judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, has written to both the senior master of the Queen's Bench Division and the Australian Attorney General for help in obtaining evidence for the civil claim.

Court documents revealed earlier this week that the judge has asked for Prince Andrew's former assistant, Robert Olney, to be questioned.

He wants to see if the former assistant can shed some light on the Duke's relationship with Maxwell, Epstein, and Ms Dufresne, as well as his travel to Epstein's homes.

Lady Victoria is the eldest child of the 6th Marquess of Bristol.

Last week, she also took to social media to claim that Maxwell's trial and sentencing has become a witch hunt, adding, “This story has been so blown out of proportion.

I know Ghislaine is obviously not a saint and should pay back the trauma caused to her victims.