‘Prince Andrew threw off his bathrobe and jumped on the desk’: Shocked masseuse reveals weird encounter with Royal at Buckingham Palace as new inform all memoir explores his friendship with disgraced pal Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein

New links between Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, the billionaire paedophile he has been desperate to distance himself from, are to be exposed in a forthcoming book, MailOnline can reveal.

The disgraced royal’s reputation has never recovered from his association with sex monster Epstein – after the pair were photographed together in New York and he later gave a car crash interview to the BBC trying to minimise links to Epstein.

But now a new book is to highlight just how close they were – tied together by their mutual regard for high society fixer Ghislaine Maxwell, who is now serving a 20 year jail sentence in the US for trafficking many of Epstein’s victims.

The author is masseuse Monique Giannelloni, 60, who devotes an entire chapter in a forthcoming memoir to her recollections of the trio.

These reminiscences include how the Prince booked her to massage him at Buckingham Palace – and how Maxwell attempted to groom her to attend what she now believes were Esptein’s sordid sex parties.

Ms Giannelloni told MailOnline that she remains distressed at belatedly realising how close she came to Epstein’s vile circle.

Speaking exclusively to MailOnline from her home in the south of France, she said: ‘I had some dark days after all the stuff about Ghislaine and Epstein and their terrible sexual predatory behaviour blew up. It shocked me to think she had tried to lure me into their circle.

‘Andrew should never have been in contact with these people.’

Her connection to the scandal came some 25 years ago when Ms Giannelloni was one of the most sought after massage therapists in the UK, working for high profile clients including Friends’ star David Schwimmer and dancer Michael Flatley.

She had been born in South Africa but in childhood moved with her family to London where her father was orthopaedic surgeon at King Edward Hospital and a fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons.

She initially built up a nursing career in Britain, before qualifying as a massage therapist which led to a lucrative private practice in Kensington and an official listing with the British Register of Complementary Practitioners.

It was through her massage work that in 2000 she first met Ghislaine Maxwell, the It Girl daughter of media tycoon Robert.

She said initially she had never heard of her wealthy new client, who asked her when they met: ‘Don’t you know who I am darling? You should read the tabloids. I am a celebrity.’

She went to the socialite’s Belgravia home on two occasions and gave her a massage upstairs – with a man she now realises was Epstein present.

Maxwell was taken with her and said she had a high profile contact she wanted her to work for, hyping her by saying that her next booking would be with ‘somebody more famous than God.’

This turned out to be Prince Andrew – with the session to take place within his suite of rooms at Buckingham Palace.

Her booking was confirmed in a telephone call made by the Duke’s then-Assistant Private Secretary, Charlotte Manley, and it was arranged that she would go to the Palace on June 30, 2000.

To Ms Giannelloni’s astonishment she was able to get into the Palace with minimal vetting – just waved through on the strength of her car registration number being on a list.

But her astonishment at this was nothing compared to her shock when Andrew came into the room where she had set up her work table – and immediately stripped fully naked in front of her, she says.

She recalls how the prince, who remains 8th in line to the throne, undid his bathrobe, threw off his towel before climbing onto the massage table.

Ms Giannelloni told MailOnline that she still feels uncomfortable about this: ‘Andrew showed a complete disregard for my professionalism.

‘Of course, I have seen naked bodies while working before, but his behaviour was driven by his sense of entitlement.

‘As a member of the Royal family, he should be showing a greater sense of decorum and taste.

‘I am a respectable and qualified massage therapist.’

She added: ‘I was not impressed by his behaviour. It was an abuse of his privilege.’

Despite her initial shock she did recover her cool and proceeded to give him the massage he had booked – and even managed to joke with him later on.

This moment of levity came at the end of their session when Andrew said he liked the smell of the oil she had used and asked what it was.

On checking the bottle from perfumier Jo Malone, they saw that the label indicated the oil was intended for pregnant women and that she had mistakenly brought the wrong bottle – causing them both to laugh.

Despite this she maintains his behaviour at their session was inappropriate: ‘He did not do anything or suggest anything untoward, but I was very uncomfortable and a bit shocked that he had acted like that.’

It was during that summer of 2000 while she was working with both Prince Andrew and Maxwell that the latter suggested she might join her and Epstein for a lavish VIP party on a boat.

Maxwell even leered: ‘What happens on the boat stays on the boat.’

This made her suspicious and she declined the invitation fearing she would be expected to perform sex acts for Maxwell and Epstein’s friends.

It was an invitation that Maxwell would repeat several times.

And she now believes that Maxwell was attempting to recruit her to be a regular for sex games with Epstein at the parties he laid on for his wealthy friends in those years.

She recalled: ‘It wasn’t difficult for me to reject her offers. I just didn’t feel right about her boat parties.

‘It was Andrew’s choice to be friends with those individuals Ghislaine and Epstein and somehow, I ended up in their world because of my work.

‘I have a lot of questions and a significant one is: was Ghislaine trying to involve me and Andrew in her sordid lifestyle?’

Maxwell, 62, was found guilty in December 2021 of helping disgraced financier Epstein sexually abuse young girls.

The high society party girl, daughter of fraudster Robert Maxwell, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2022.

Epstein, her former boyfriend, died by suicide in 2019 in a Manhattan jail cell, five weeks after he was arrested and charged with sex trafficking.

Mother-of-two Ms Giannelloni added: ‘Andrew’s reputation has been sullied by his friendships with those two people.’

The masseuse kept the £75 cheque which was signed by Andrew’s aide on his behalf after the massage session – in case he should try to later deny they had met.

Prince Andrew has famously denied claims by Epstein underage victim Virginia Giuffre about his contact with her – even suggesting that a photo of them together could be fake.

The masseuse shared some extracts from her forthcoming memoir, including her account of the royal encounter at the Palace

She writes: “A quick glance around the room offered a glimpse into the more personal side of its royal occupant.

‘Family photographs of Fergie and their daughters graced the services of dark wood furnishing and hand stone tapestry cushions lay on the bed.

“A hint of domesticity that cut through the formality of the Palace setting. The site brought a touch of warmth and normalcy to the extraordinary situation.’

Then she moves onto the massage, saying: ‘The sight of Prince Andrew draping himself across my massage table sent a fresh wave of nervous energy coursing through me.

‘Here I was, a therapist from the streets of London, about to provide a massage to a member of the Royal Family Steeling my nerves, I focused on the task at hand, hopefully masking the whirlwind of emotions within.’

She continues: ‘Little did I realise that these people with whom I had seemingly innocuous encounters – Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein and Prince Andrew – would half a lifetime later become headline news.

‘The names of Maxwell and Epstein were connected to a dark and sordid world which was finally exposed.

“And I, the unassuming massage therapist, would find myself a silent witness to a story that would captivate and repulse the world in equal measure.’

The married mother of two now lives in Provence, France, where she runs a restaurant.