Lady Victoria Hervey has described Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell as a “double act” and claimed that she was used as “bait” to entertain his friends.

The 44-year-old socialite and former “It Girl”, who is the daughter of the 6th Marquess of Bristol and Prince Andrew’s ex-girlfriend, opens up about first meeting the pair 20 years ago in new ITV documentary, Ghislaine, Prince Andrew and the Paedophile.

Speaking to Lorraine Kelly on her daytime TV show Lorraine ahead of the programme airing tonight at 9pm, she said that while ‘It wouldn’t have worked” if Epstein had acted alone, she felt that Maxwell was a “victim” who was being treated as a “scapegoat”.

Speaking from Los Angeles, Lady Victoria explained: “She is a scapegoat right now, so unfortunately for her, she is being taken down for what he has done as well. Some might argue is not quite as fair as it could be.

“I mean to be honest I think Ghislaine was a victim and is a victim. She was a victim that then became the accomplice as her role changed in that relationship when they were no longer together. She kind of switched sides. I do see her as a victim as well.”

Maxwell, 60, was convicted on December 29 of recruiting and grooming teenage girls for Epstein to sexually abuse from 1994 to 2004.

She will be sentenced this summer and faces 65 years in prison, meaning she could spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Epstein was found dead aged 66 in his New York prison cell in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was later ruled a suicide.

Kelly grilled Lady Victoria about her own connections with the pair, saying: “Why do you think, if you were just an ordinary girl with no connections, do you think she specifically wanted you in that place?”

The socialite replied: “At the time I was the IT girl of London, on the social scene, everyone knew me, I was at every dinner event. It was a plus having me on her list of who to invite.

“It probably kept it more interesting for all the men she was entertaining. Obviously you want to have attractive girls who are the hot girls in London at the time.”

Noting that Epstein and Maxwell were “definitely a double act”, she said: “It wouldn’t have worked with him on his own. It was a lot easier for her to approach other women being a female.

“Girls would feel less intimated and less scared, rather than a man. It would have been a lot less obvious in that respect,” she added.

While she admitted to having felt “used” by Epstein and Maxwell, she said that she “had fun at the time.”

“I was so naive. People in my situation that were really young, of course we were going to get taken advantage of. We were just a pretty face to have entertain people. I was one of the lucky ones and I’m aware of that.”

She did maintain however that she had no clue what the duo had been upto, stressing: “Besides the situation of having a feeling there were video cameras in the apartment, it was social gatherings and dinner parties. It all seemed very fun at the time.’

“This is in the early 2000s when no one had any idea of what people found out later on but the early 2000s, people wanted Ghislaine and Jeffrey at all their events. They were invited there everywhere.”

Her ex Prince Andrew, 61, is facing a civil sexual assault lawsuit by a woman who alleges she was trafficked when she was 17 to have sex with him by Epstein.

On the well-known picture of Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre, Lady Victoria offered: “That was stupid.”