Did sex offender Jeffrey Epstein go on a date with Princess Diana?

In a surprising revelation, Ghislaine Maxwell, Jeffrey Epstein’s convicted associate, has claimed that Princess Diana may once have been “set up as a date” for the disgraced financier.

Speaking in a newly released transcript from the US Department of Justice, Maxwell, who is serving a 20-year prison sentence for recruiting young girls for Epstein to sexually abuse, claimed that the late paedophile had crossed paths with the Princess of Wales at a high-profile gathering organised by one of Diana’s close friends.

At the same time, Maxwell admitted she wasn’t certain if the two had actually met, but hinted there may have been attempts to connect them.

So, what exactly did Maxwell say, and why has it sparked such a storm of speculation? Here’s a closer look.

Did Epstein really go on a date with Princess Diana?

In her interview with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche last month, Maxwell claimed that before she came into the picture, Epstein was already mingling with what she called “truly fancy people” in London. Among them, she said, were Diana’s close friend Rosa Monckton and her husband, journalist Dominic Lawson.

Maxwell went on to say that after she met Epstein, he once attended “a big event” in London that was organised by Monckton. “I don’t know if he sat with Diana or met her there. I don’t know, but I believe it was organised by Rosa. I don’t know if she was being set up as a date for him, maybe because she was,” Maxwell suggested.

According to The Sun, Maxwell expressed hesitation about “speaking bad of Diana’ before confirming, “I’m not going to do that.”

She also pushed back against claims that she personally connected Epstein to members of the royal family, calling it “a flat untruth.” Interestingly, Maxwell suggested the event took place in the early 2000s, but Princess Diana tragically died in Paris in August 1997, casting serious doubt on the timeline of her story.

Trump & Epstein ‘competed’ for Diana’s attention, claims the President’s biographer

While Epstein’s alleged friendship with Princess Diana had never been previously revealed, author and journalist Michael Wolff told the Daily Beast’s Inside Trump’s Head podcast that the convicted pedophile once competed with US President Donald Trump to see who would be first to sleep with the royal.

“They had a competition, Trump and Epstein,” Wolff said. “Of who would be the one, the first one to sleep with Princess Diana… They just understood: What could you get from these people? Both Trump and Epstein. ‘What can you get from somebody?’ is the question you would always ask about anybody.”

Wolff’s claim, however, comes with no suggestion that Diana was ever romantically involved with either Trump or Epstein.

The allegation surfaces at a time when Trump’s past ties to Epstein are once again under scrutiny. Critics have questioned why the Justice Department continues to withhold parts of the Epstein investigation files, a decision that has angered both Democrats and sections of Trump’s conservative base.

Meanwhile, Maxwell told a senior Justice Department official that she never witnessed Trump behave inappropriately. “I never witnessed the President in any inappropriate setting in any way,” Maxwell insisted. “The President was never inappropriate with anybody.”

Trump himself has often brushed off Wolff’s remarks, dismissing him as a “disgraced” writer. First Lady Melania Trump also previously rejected the author’s allegations that she first met her husband through Epstein, even pursuing legal action to challenge it.

With input from agencies