the times | Monday January 3 2022 2GM 5
News
Officers have appeared uncomfortable
at being asked to drink to the health of
the Duke of York at the end of regimen-
tal dinners, The Times understands.
There are growing calls for Prince
Andrew to step down from his military
roles after his friend Ghislaine Maxwell
was found guilty of child sex trafficking.
Andrew, 61, took on the role of colo-
nel of the Grenadier Guards from his
father, the Duke of Edinburgh, in 2017.
The Duke of York holds nine honorary
commands including colonel of the
Royal Highland Fusiliers, colonel-in-
chief of the Yorkshire Regiment,
commodore-in-chief of the Fleet Air
Arm and honorary air commodore in
the RAF.
Richard Kemp, a retired colonel and
former commander of British troops in
Afghanistan, said: “My view is that the
Queen takes the royal family’s connec-
tions with the armed forces very seri-
ously. If she decides it would be right for
Andrew to forfeit his military titles she
will do so, putting her duty to the forces
above any family considerations or per-
sonal views.”
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, a victim of
Maxwell’s former boyfriend Jeffrey
Epstein, alleges that the duke sexually
abused her on three occasions when
she was 17. Andrew denies the claims.
It was reported in August that the
Queen had “let it be known” that she
wanted the Duke of York to remain as
colonel of the Grenadier Guards, de-
spite little prospect of him returning to
public duties.
The Sunday Times reported yesterday
that royal courtiers have discussed
plans to ask the prince to stop using his
title if he loses a lawsuit brought by Gi-
uffre. Andrew would also be asked to
give up his remaining links to charities
and would be sent into a form of “inter-
nal exile”, according to ideas being de-
bated in the royal household.
Palace officials have talked informal-
ly about how they would protect the
monarchy and the reputation of the
Queen if Andrew were to lose the case.
One proposal being discussed by
courtiers to the most senior royals
Toasting duke’s
good health
‘makes officers
uncomfortable’
would be to ask him to stop using his
title.
“If he loses the case, the question
is,‘What do you do with him?’” said a
source familiar with the talks. “You
can’t make him resign like you would a
normal person but he would be asked to
put his dukedom into abeyance.”
Andrew stepped back from public life
“for the foreseeable future” in 2019 over
his friendship with Epstein, a convicted
sex offender.
The duke admitted that “the circum-
stances relating to my former associa-
tion with Jeffrey Epstein have become a
major disruption to my family’s work”.
The duke relinquished most of his pa-
tronages in 2019, after a disastrous in-
terview with the BBC’s Newsnight pro-
gramme over his friendship with Ep-
stein and many other organisations
have since severed links with him.
The Duke of Sussex was forced to
give up his military roles last year, after
confirming that he would not return to
royal duties.
Andrew’s lawyers will this week try to
get Giuffre’s case against him thrown
out of court. A US federal judge has or-
dered a previously secret legal docu-
ment that could further the duke’s
cause to be made public for the first
time today.
Andrew argues that the document, a
settlement agreement between Giuffre
and Epstein in 2009 after she sued the
late financier for years of abuse, pro-
tects him and other associates of
Epstein from being targeted in civil pro-
ceedings.
However, the duke is not thought to
be mentioned by name in the agree-
ment and Giuffre’s lawyers believe it
does not grant him immunity. It will be
up to Judge Lewis Kaplan to rule on the
case.
Andrew’s lawyers will also raise other
objections to Giuffre’s claim in an effort
to get it dismissed before it can proceed
to a jury trial during the Queen’s Plati-
num Jubilee year.
In legal filings lodged last week, they
argued that Giuffre, 38, lives in Austra-
lia and that the New York court has no
jurisdiction over the case.
Spare a thought for family tainted by
Andrew, Libby Purves, page 23Larisa Brown Defence Editor
Ben Ellery
Ghislaine Maxwell’s husband told her
he had “moved on” with a yoga in-
structor in a tense phone call while she
was behind bars, it has been claimed.
Scott Borgerson, 46, a technology
entrepreneur who secretly married
Maxwell, 60, in 2016, has been pictured
with another woman near his home in
Massachusetts. It had initially ap-
peared Borgerson would stand by his
wife and he offered to put up millions of
dollars to secure her release on bail.
However, he was nowhere to be seen
during Maxwell’s trial in New York,
which ended with her conviction on sex
trafficking charges. The marriage was
over before the trial began in late No-
Jail phone call from husband told Maxwell her marriage was over
vember, it was reported yesterday. A
source told The Mail on Sunday: “There
was a dramatic phone call between
them while she was in jail in solitary
confinement. It became confrontation-
al. Scott told her he had moved on and
was seeing someone else.”
Maxwell and Borgerson’s relation-
ship has been shrouded in mystery
since its existence was revealed by
prosecutors after her arrest in 2020. No
official record of the marriage has been
discovered and even Maxwell’s siblings
had no idea they had tied the knot.
Some details of their life together
have emerged. They had lived together
at his seven-bedroom seafront proper-
ty in Manchester-by-the-Sea. In De-
cember 2019 she moved to a secludedhome two hours’ drive away in Brad-
ford, New Hampshire, where she was
arrested by the FBI the following year.
Borgerson has two children with his
first wife, to whom he was still married
when he met Maxwell. He has now
been seen with Kris McGinn, a local
journalist and yoga enthusiast.
A friend of Maxwell said the hope
now was that “the marriage can be dis-
solved amicably and quickly”.
Since Maxwell was convicted, there
has been speculation about what she
and her legal team will do next.
It had been suggested that she might
be tempted to “name names” and impli-
cate others involved in Jeffrey Epstein’s
sex trafficking ring in order to secure a
shorter sentence. However, her brotherhas dismissed the idea. Ian Maxwell
said that his sister maintained her inno-
cence and had no intention of cutting a
deal with prosecutors.
He told The Sunday Times: “Prosecu-
tion confirmed no plea bargain offers
were made or received. I expect that
position to be maintained.”
Maxwell, the millionaire’s daughter
who spent decades rubbing shoulders
with the rich and famous, is in a New
York jail cell awaiting sentence. She
faces spending the rest of her life in jail.
She has been held in isolation for
more than 500 days at the Metro-
politan Detention Centre in Brooklyn,
New York. Her next destination will be
a federal prison, where the conditions
are likely to be better.Keiran Southern Los Angeles
Ghislaine Maxwell’s marriage to Scott
Borgerson emerged after her arrestT
he Queen has
lost a close aide
with the death of
Diana, Lady
Farnham, who
served as her lady of the
bedchamber for 34 years
(Jack Malvern writes).
Farnham, who was 90,
is the second lady-in-
waiting to die within a
month. Ann, DowagerDuchess of Grafton, who
had served the Queen
since 1967, died on
December 3 at 101.
Farnham, who died on
December 29, was chosen
by the Queen and
accompanied her on
engagements. She rode
alongside the monarch to
the Diamond Jubilee
service in 2012 after the
Duke of Edinburgh was
taken to hospital.
Dickie Arbiter, a
former press secretary to
the Queen, said that
Farnham was a
commanding figure. “She
had a tremendous sense
of humour,” he said. “She
was a very glamorouslady... always
immaculately turned
out.”
The Queen has up to
five ladies-in-waiting,
an unpaid position, to
assist with public duties
and to deal with
correspondence. The
most senior of these is
Lady Susan Hussey of
North Bradley, 82, known
affectionately to staff as
“number one head girl”.
She has served the Queen
since the birth of Prince
Andrew in 1960.
A royal source said that
the Queen, 95, would be
sending a private message
to Farnham’s family.
The aide was marriedto Barry Maxwell, the
12th Baron Farnham, an
Irish peer and Nova
Scotia baronet. He died in
2001.
Arbiter said that all the
ladies-in-waiting were
close to the Queen
because she appointed
them.
“She chose them
because she liked them,”
he said. “They spoke the
same language and had
the same interests. They
are usually friends or
they’re friends of very
close friends. Diana
would have retired a few
years ago.”
A death notice in The
Irish Times stated:
“Diana, Lady Farnham
DCVO died peacefully at
home on December 29,- Much loved wife,
mother and grandmother.
Interment of ashes at
Kilmore Cathedral,
Co Cavan at a later date.”
A royal source said that
Farnham’s death was yet
another sadness for the
Queen after the death of
the Duke of Edinburgh in
April.
“[Farnham] was always
very generous to new
people joining the
household,” the source
told The Daily Telegraph.
“It has not been a good
year for the Queen.
“Unfortunately a sad
consequence of living a
long life is that you have
to say goodbye to a lot of
people you care about.”
Farnham was born
Diana Marion Gunnis.
She married Lord
Farnham in 1959. They
are survived by two
daughters, Harriet, 57,
and Sophia, 54, and four
grandchildren, Araminta,
28, Henry, 26, Elsa, 15,
and Celia, 13.
Queen hit
by death of
second aide
in a month
Diana, Lady Farnham,
supported the Queen in her
duties at home and abroadTIM GRAHAM PHOTO LIBRARY/GETTY IMAGES