Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell all pictured together (Picture: PA)

Ghislaine Maxwell has claimed the well-known photo showing Prince Andrew next to Virginia Giuffre and herself is fake.

The disgraced British socialite, 61, who was convicted of sex trafficking and grooming girls for billionaire paedophile Jeffrey Epstein, has previously cast doubt on the picture showing the Duke of York with his arm around Ms Giuffre, and her in the background.

Speaking from prison in the US, Maxwell said she is ‘sure’ the picture, said to be taken inside her Mayfair home, is not real.

In an interview with TalkTV, Maxwell said: ‘It’s a fake. I don’t believe it’s real for a second, in fact I’m sure it’s not.’

She added: ‘Well, there’s never been an original and further there’s no photograph, and I’ve only ever seen a photocopy of it.’

Andrew has also questioned the validity of the image of him with Ms Giuffre, formerly known as Virginia Roberts.

The duke went on to pay millions to settle a civil sexual assault case with Ms Giuffre – a woman he claimed never to have met.

Ghislaine Maxwell was interviewed from prison on TalkTV (Picture: TalkTV)

Virginia Giuffre with a photo of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew (Picture: Zuma Press)

According to reports in The Sun and Mail on Sunday, Andrew is now considering what legal options he has to overturn the settlement, potentially paving the way for his return to royal duties.

Ms Giuffre sued him for allegedly sexually assaulting her when she was 17 after she was trafficked by Epstein, who was Maxwell’s partner between 1994 and 2004. Andrew denied the claims.

The duke has previously said he has ‘no recollection’ of meeting Ms Giuffre and cast doubt on the picture, claiming he is ‘not one to hug’ or ‘display affection’ in public.

In an interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019, Andrew said while he recognises himself in the picture with Ms Giuffre, he claimed it is not possible to prove whether the image had been faked.

Andrew was stripped of his royal titles (Picture: PA)

He also claimed the picture could not have been taken in London, as he was in his ‘travelling clothes’.

Ms Giuffre insisted to BBC Panorama the photo was ‘authentic’ and said she gave the original to the FBI in 2011.

Maxwell cast doubt on the authenticity of the photo in a deposition.

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She said the surroundings in the photo looked ‘familiar’, but also said: ‘We can’t really establish the photograph and all that’, adding: ‘I don’t know if that’s true, if that’s a real picture or not.’

Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison last year after she was found guilty of luring young girls to massage rooms for Epstein to molest.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he awaited trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

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In an interview from prison, Ghislaine Maxwell said: ‘It’s a fake. I don’t believe it’s real for a second, in fact I’m sure it’s not.’