Cottagecore,
stemming from online movements including grandmacore, farmcore, goblincore and
fairiecore, is an Internet aesthetic which celebrates a return to traditional
forms of craft such as foraging, baking and pottery. According to its
proponents, the ideas of Cottagecore can help to satisfy a popular desire for
"an aspirational form of nostalgia" as well as an escape from many
forms of stress and trauma. The New York Times termed it a reaction to hustle
culture and the advent of personal branding.
The
movement gained further traction in many online spheres and on social media due
to the mass quarantining in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Accordingly, it
has been described by The Guardian as a "visual and lifestyle movement
designed to fetishize the wholesome purity of the outdoors." It emphasizes
simplicity and the soft peacefulness of the pastoral life as an escape from the
dangers of the modern world.
Gardening,
interacting with farm animals, and dancing with a loved one under the moonlight.
These classic cottagecore themes eschew digital connectedness in favor of a
connectedness to nature.
— Writer
Amelia Hall in The Guardian, 2020
Predecessors
and cultural context
While
cottagecore as a named movement arose in 2020, prior works have employed
similar aesthetics and ideals. Two examples from the early 20th century would
be Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows. Both feature a pleasant
portrayal of country life, an absence of advanced technology and industry, an
appreciation for nature, and turn-of-the-century cottages. Interpersonal
interactions within the framework of a close-knit and caring community play a
central role in these stories. Characters are often seen baking, gardening,
walking in the woods, or engaging in other peaceful, pastoral activities. Most
items seen in the stories are handmade, rather than manufactured. While the
authors, A. A. Milne and Kenneth Grahame respectively, were familiar with
turn-of-the-century rural English life, many of their contemporary and modern
readers were not. Thus, these works offer a form of escapism into a calm and
comprehensible world. Winnie the Pooh found popularity when first published in
part because "the idyllic setting of the 100-Acre Wood was a welcome
sanctuary from the horrors of the Western Front that remained fresh in his mind
and those of many readers in the 1920s.". The Wind in the Willows likewise
focuses its attention on "quieter events."The two series continue to
be read and adapted a century later.
The idyllic
land of The Shire in J. R. R. Tolkien's works first appeared in The Hobbit in
1937. Its residents occupy themselves with baking and farming, living in small,
cozy homes. It is the only set from the film adaptation to be converted into a
destination for tourists, with particular attention given to its rustic
aesthetics and its proximity to nature.
A more
recent ancestor of the genre would be 1970's Frog and Toad, which likewise is
set in a small community of rural cottages. The narratives revolve around friends
and neighbors interacting in emotionally-supportive ways. The characters
regularly engage in domestic activities like sewing and baking, as well social
activities such as writing letters and visiting each other's homes. As in
Winnie the Pooh and The Wind in the Willows, handmade items are commonplace.
Another
series in this vein would be Brambly Hedge, first published in 1980, which
presents themes of camaraderie and community against the backdrop of the
English countryside. Stakes are typically personal in nature (such as planning
a surprise birthday party) and the scope is limited to a small,
"idyllic" rural settlement. Unlike The Wind in the Willows, which was
set in the time of its writing, Brambly Hedge portrays turn-of-the-century
country life in retrospect and so is an example of nostalgia in the genre.
Premiering
in 2001, the social simulation video game series Animal Crossing has gameplay
centered on crafts like fishing, gardening, and carpentry, as well as cottage
upkeep and the building of social relationships in small communities. Because
of its release near the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Animal Crossing: New
Horizons has received considerable praise as a means of self-care for those
impacted by social distancing.
In the
2010s, documentary television programs such as Edwardian Farm and to varying
degrees the rest of the BBC historic farm series show presenters (themselves
often archaeologists or other experts) living and working in cottages for
periods as long as a year. Such programs examine the way culture romanticizes
cottage life through the lens of anthropology. The shows recreate traditional
methods of farming, cooking, foraging, and other activities for a combination
of entertainment, education, and experimental archaeology.
The Great
British Bake Off, first airing in 2010, regularly features traditional baked
goods and baking methods, including some which were more common in historical
cottages than they are in modern-day kitchens. The show's outdoor baking tent
is meant to evoke the "cultural tradition of afternoon tea on sprawling
country homes." Its spin-off series, The Great British Sewing Bee and The
Great Pottery Throw Down, take a similar approach to other crafts.
Cottagecore
has also become a subculture of the lesbian community, stemming from the thrive
for isolation from a hetero-normative society. Videos of cottagecore lesbians
performing tasks like baking bread, embroidering, and thrifting to calming
music have gone viral on social media app Tiktok. Artists like Hozier
(musician), Lord Huron and Mitski often have their rustic and romantic musical
style associated with cottagecore.
This article is more than 2 months old
Why is 'cottagecore' booming? Because being
outside is now the ultimate taboo
Amelia Hall
This article is more than 2 months old
The visual and lifestyle movement is designed to
fetishise the wholesome purity of the outdoors
Youth
movements are always about more than what meets the eye. For example, 1970s
first-wave punk wasn’t really just about punk music. Johnny Rotten of the Sex
Pistols defined the punk world’s position on harmonics as such: “We’re into
chaos, not music.” But it’s not just the appeal of an ideology that sparks a
new youth subculture. The most memorable feed off a taboo of the times. In the
case of early punk, if the world was tipping toward Thatcher-era conservatism,
maybe it was time to put a safety pin in your face and get in the pit.
As
expected, there’s a new taboo on the scene, ripe for fetishization. What’s not
expected though, is the taboo itself: “The Outside World”. Today, the simple
act of being outdoors poses a very real, very mortal threat. So while
mindlessly scrolling through Twitter, and encountering collages of young women
lying in grass, cradling bunnies, wearing outfits out of Picnic at Hanging Rock
– I felt as though I’d found something as illicit as a schedule 2 drug.
The reference
here is cottagecore: a visual and lifestyle movement designed to fetishize the
wholesome purity of the outdoors, spearheaded by lovely queer teens of TikTok.
Gaining initial traction sometime around 2018, its founders imagined and
discussed idyllic escape from the endless dopamine trap of digital media and
the brutal judgment that accompanied it.
In contrast
to the choker-donning eGirl, those worshipping at the church of cottagecore
wear traditional, Victorian-inspired dresses – a wholesale dismissal of
cyber-inspired everything. Well, not everything – Nintendo’s latest, Animal
Crossing: New Horizons, fits perfectly within the calming, pastoral universe
imagined by cottagecore devotees.
It’s
well-established that most contemporary movements are dependent on social media
for growth. So it’s funny that cottagecore is both dependent on it, and
simultaneously ignores its existence. It’s easy to understand why. Millennials
were the first generation to grow up with the internet, yet Gen Z has led the
entirety of their adolescence in a state of constant social media performance.
It makes sense that on a foundational level, cottagecore would tap into a taboo
familiar to many teens and young adults: To be “disconnected”. To be
“unavailable”. To be “off-the-grid”. In 2018, “to be outdoors” was a symbolic
act of rebellion. Fast-forward to 2020, and the outdoors are a pipe dream
(featuring pink baby lambs, of course).
Gardening,
interacting with farm animals, and dancing with a loved one under the
moonlight. These classic cottagecore themes eschew digital connectedness in
favor of a connectedness to nature. But this isn’t anything new: the movement’s
aesthetics are part of a larger visual tradition that peaks in cycles when
urban grit, industrialization and the drudgery of daily life demand escape.
In 1854,
David Henry Thoreau published Walden, a response to the rapid industrialization
he witnessed during his lifetime. In the 1860s, the avant-garde art movement
known as the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood romanticized nature in firm opposition
to the utilitarian ethos of industrialized Europe. Art Nouveau and the Arts and
Crafts Movement of the 1880s quickly followed in a further attempt to highlight
a human touch when machines continued to replace man.
It was
assumed that because we’re living in socially distanced, Zoom-mediated reality,
our visual tastes might follow suit. Maybe the increasingly outdated Millennial
Aesthetic of the 2010s (frosted pink, potted fig trees, sparkling terrazzo)
would give way to something hyper-digital – referencing the synthetic-ness of a
life spent online. But to hold up a mirror to our current situation would be
too simple. Perhaps the more apt reference is a window into a rarified reality.
We revere what we can’t have, and today that looks a lot like what cottagecore
celebrates: a taste of nature, the human hand and an aesthetic that soothes us
to our very core. Visual ASMR, anyone? Perhaps we could do with some baby lambs
right about now.
Amelia Hall
is a Brand Strategist working at Deutsch LA. She’s also a contributor to
Clickbait.la — an occasional internet culture journal
David Beckham leads the way as men flock to
'cottagecore' look
Latest trend conveys ‘a more romanticised ideal of
masculinity’, says fashion professor
He took
sarongs, bleach-blond locks and all leather outfits into the mainstream, but
can David Beckham do the same to the latest trend for whimsical outdoor living:
“cottagecore”?
During
lockdown, Beckham’s Instagram account has featured him in some distinct poses.
With a scythe in hand against a bucolic sky with a field in the background,
he’s usually wearing a flat cap, corduroys and a woolly cardigan or jumper.
Sometimes he’s wading through fields in his Hunter wellies and trenchcoat and
he’s even filmed himself building a beehive in a V-neck smock top. At another
time Beckham channelling what could be mistaken for Tory chic from his
Cotswold’s home may have sounded an uneasy note, but right now it strikes a
chord with the fantasy of agrarian life that is part of cottagecore.
“As we
emerge from lockdown, men are embracing cottagecore as a means to convey a more
romanticised ideal of masculinity,” says Andrew Groves, a professor of fashion
design at the University of Westminster. Here, he says, Beckham has idealised
the agricultural worker and reimagined himself “as the gamekeeper from Lady
Chatterley’s Lover”.
The trend,
which began in 2017 on social media sites like Tumblr and TikTok, combines
lifestyle with fashion. It is about a yearning for the romantic sheen of rural
life expressed in part through the look of the 1970s (lace trimmings and denim)
– Laura Ashley reimagined by newer labels like the Vampire’s Wife and Batsheva
.
During
lockdown it has increased in popularity. “For those who felt trapped in their
apartments in the grimy, crowded city, it made sense to start daydreaming about
pastoral settings, where one could be cosy and feel free from disease,” says
fashion historian Andrew Luecke. Cottagecore activities like baking, gardening
and making your own clothes have all boomed during the pandemic.
Now,
menswear is taking note. Searches for the staples that make up so-called
“granddad style” have increased: flat caps (monthly searches are at 27,100
according to Digitaloft.co.uk), cardigans (40,500) and smocks (74,000).
Harry
Styles’ multi-coloured chunky patchwork cardigan by JW Anderson has become a
cottagecore challenge, with users on TikTok attempting to knit their own
versions, resulting in the hashtag #harrystylescardigan. Styles has also been
seen wearing a yellow daisy shirt from New York label Bode, a sustainable
designer whose autumn/winter collection was the first cottagecore line. It had
a strong animal/ agriculture theme, set in a community garden and featuring
gardening gloves, animal prints (cow, sheep) with a heavy focus on embroidery
and crocheted items.
Similarly
designers like Virgil Abloh used his spring/summer 2020 menswear collection to
focus on the idyllic outdoors with patterns featuring anemones and pansies and
gardening boots.
Cottagecore
for men could be seen as a natural branch of both the utility-led “gorpcore”
trend (outdoor clothes for people who don’t go out) and the acid ramblers
scene. “Those original 90s ravers are now to be found on the moors, both
rambling and raving,” says Groves, “wearing a mixture of cords, knitwear and
country smocks.” In that sense, he believes cottagecore is a trend that “is
only going to become more prominent over the coming years.”
More than
20 armed agents and police are reported to have taken part in the early morning
operation on Thursday that led to her being handcuffed at her secluded, rural
retreat in New Hampshire and taken into custody.
Officers
were said to have broken down the front door at the 156-acre property, which is
called Tucked Away. Her arrest ended almost a year of speculation over her
whereabouts following the death of Epstein in a New York jail last summer; some
reports had suggested she was in Los Angeles, others that she had moved to
Paris.
What's next for Ghislaine Maxwell – and will she
cooperate with prosecutors?
Avoiding a lengthy prison sentence is incentive to
cooperate, but may be difficult given her high-up position
While
Ghislaine Maxwell’s arrest Thursday in relation to confidant Jeffrey Epstein’s
sex crimes answered some questions about her life – revealing, for example,
that she hid at a sprawling, million-dollar New Hampshire estate, where she was
picked up in a morning raid – still more questions arose about what’s next for
the mysterious British socialite.
As she sits
in custody, with plans by federal law enforcement to move her from New England
to New York, at the top of many minds was whether Maxwell – long accused of
grooming underage victims for Epstein – will cooperate with prosecutors.
Despite
Epstein’s death in a jail cell in Manhattan last August while awaiting trial,
the authorities continued to investigate his crimes and other people in his
network.
Maxwell,
58, was charged on Thursday in a 17-page indictment with allegedly enticing a
minor to travel to engage in criminal sexual activity, transporting a minor
with the intent to engage in criminal sexual activity, conspiracy to commit
both of those crimes, and perjury related to a sworn deposition. If convicted,
she faces up to 35 years in federal prison.
At a press
conference in Manhattan early Thursday afternoon, federal prosecutor Audrey
Strauss, acting US attorney for the southern district of New York, accused
Maxwell of lying about allegations that she conspired with Epstein and also was
directly responsible for some of the sexual abuse herself because the truth was
“almost unspeakable”.
Then
Strauss was asked whether the perjury charge could impact Maxwell’s potential
value if she were to cooperate.
“This
sometimes happens where there are perjury charges – and people can go on from
there and become cooperators,” Strauss said.
She
continued: “So I’m not concerned about that.” And if Maxwell were to become a
cooperator, Strauss said of the perjury charge: “I think we could deal with
that.”
At this
point, any talk of Maxwell’s cooperation, typically a plea deal in return for
information about other perpetrators, remains hypothetical.
And it’s
difficult to say how any potential cooperation would play out. Following
Epstein’s death, many now perceive the wealthy socialite as the ringleader in
his abuse conspiracy.
It’s more
common for cooperators to be lower-level participants in criminal activity, not
ringleaders, the idea being that their cooperation would implicate the
higher-level offenders, now those lower down a crooked hierarchy.
David
Weinstein, a former federal prosecutor who now handles white-collar criminal defense
at Hinshaw & Culbertson, pointed to the potential lengthy sentence as a
possible incentive to cooperate. If Maxwell pleaded guilty rather than going on
trial, she could face less time.
“They will
use all of this to pressure her into cooperating against the other ‘known and
unknown co-conspirators’ mentioned in counts one and three [of the
indictment],” Weinstein told the Guardian in an email.
“However,
keep in mind that at this point, with Epstein dead, she is the kingpin of the
‘organization’,” Weinstein said of how prosecutors likely perceive Maxwell. “If
she cooperates, she would be cooperating down. Those co-conspirators would have
to be high profile individuals to warrant [prosecutors] accepting her
cooperation.”
Britain’s
The Sun newspaper on Friday reported that a former associate of Epstein, Steven
Hoffenberg, who spent 20 years in prison for a financial pyramid, or Ponzi,
scheme, predicted that Maxwell will quickly “crack” in custody and cooperate.
Julie
Rendelman, a New York criminal defense lawyer who formerly worked as a
prosecutor, said that cooperation wasn’t off the table despite Maxwell’s
potential alleged high rank.
“Could she
cooperate? Sure, she could cooperate, even though many view her at this point,
without Epstein, as being the highest in the chain,” Rendelman said. Adding,
however, “we don’t know for sure she is”.
But
cooperation wouldn’t necessarily be a “get out of jail free card, but may
instead get her leniency when it comes to sentencing in the end,” Rendelman
said.
Asked
whether he had anything to say about Maxwell’s arrest, or the cooperation
question, her lawyer, Lawrence Vogelman, said in an e-mail: “Sorry. No
comment.” Maxwell has long maintained that she did not engage in any
wrongdoing.
Daniel R.
Alonso, a former federal prosecutor who’s a partner at Buckley LLP’s New York
City office, said: “Clearly, the top of the pyramid in this case was Epstein,
and he’s gone, so it all depends on the government’s perception on the relative
value of its own mission, of prosecuting other people that they might not
otherwise be able to convict without her testimony.”
Even if the
FBI concluded that the people she can cooperate against are somehow less
culpable, that wouldn’t mean that they wouldn’t find value in her cooperation,
Alonso pointed out.
“There are
many instances where the government has used so-called higher level people
against so-called lower level people,” he continued. “It’s not the norm, it’s
much more common to cooperate people ‘up’, but it’s not unheard of.”
He also
said that cooperators can still be effective, even if they’re implicated in
perjury.
“There’s
this sort of misconception that if somebody has a perjury conviction, that
they’re never useful as a witness ever again. That’s not true,” he said. “The
question is not: ‘Did they lie the first time?’ The question is whether
they’re telling the truth now.”
Prince Andrew under pressure after arrest of
Ghislaine Maxwell
Royal ‘bewildered’ after US attorney asks him to come
forward following arrest of his friend over alleged sex crimes
Pressure on
Prince Andrew to speak to FBI investigators was mounting after his friend
Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested on charges of sex trafficking and perjury as
part of its ongoing inquiry into the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
At a press
conference in New York in which prosecutors detailed the allegations facing
Maxwell, they urged the Prince to come forward.
“We would
welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us, we would like to have the
benefit of his statement,” said Audrey Strauss, acting US attorney for the
southern district of New York.
“I have no
further comment beyond what I just said, which is that our doors remain open,
as we previously said, and we would welcome him coming in and giving us an
opportunity to hear his statement.”
A source
close to the prince’s working group said that his lawyers have twice
communicated with the US Department of Justice (DOJ) in the past month. “The
duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the
DOJ in the last month and to date we have had no response,” the source said.
Strauss’s
remarks came following the arrest of Maxwell, the British socialite and close
friend of the convicted sex offender Epstein was seized at a luxury hideaway in
a small town in New Hampshire early on Thursday.
The prince
has made no secret of his longstanding friendship with Maxwell, or that she
introduced him to Epstein, who killed himself in his jail cell last August
facing charges of sex trafficking minors, which he denied.
Prosecutors
have continued their investigation and sought testimony from Prince Andrew. He
faces accusations from Virginia Giuffre, who has claimed she was forced to have
sex with him at Maxwell’s home in London when she was 17. Her claims have been
categorically denied by the prince.
On
Thursday, investigators accused Maxwell of “slithering away” into hiding. They
claimed she had previously lied repeatedly about her direct and indirect
involvement in the abuse of underage girls, because, they alleged, the truth
was “almost unspeakable”.
“Maxwell
played a critical role in helping Epstein to identify, befriend and groom minor
victims for abuse,” the federal prosecutor Strauss told the press conference in
Manhattan. “In some cases, Maxwell participated in the abuse.”
“She set
the trap. She pretended to be a woman they [alleged victims] could trust.”
Maxwell has
long been accused by many women of recruiting them to give Epstein massages,
during which they were pressured into sex. Those accusations, until now, never
resulted in criminal charges against her.
She has
always denied wrongdoing in of her dealings with Epstein or females associated
with him.
Maxwell had
kept a low profile, and her location was unknown since Epstein’s arrest last
July on charges that he abused and trafficked in women and girls in Manhattan
and Florida between 2002 and 2005. The search for Maxwell has been the subject
of intense speculation, with reported sightings and rumours of her whereabouts
popping up across the US and even abroad.
She was
arrested in Bradford, New Hampshire, at 8.30am. At a press conference in New
York, William Sweeney, assistant director-in-charge of the New York FBI Office,
said: “We have been discreetly keeping tabs on Maxwell’s whereabouts.”
He added
that authorities had recently learned that Maxwell, “slithered away to a
gorgeous property in New Hampshire”, continuing to live a “life of privilege”.
Sweeney
continued: “We moved when we were ready.”
The
17-page, six-count indictment filed by the Manhattan US attorney charges
Maxwell with a host of crimes, including conspiracy to entice minors to travel
to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in
illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in
criminal sexual activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in
criminal sexual activity, and perjury.
The
indictment described Maxwell’s relationship to Epstein as “personal and
professional” – and that she was “in an intimate relationship” with him from
about 1994 to 1997. Epstein paid Maxwell “to manage their various properties”,
the document says.
The court
paperwork provides detail into how Maxwell allegedly lured minors into
Epstein’s orbit.
According
to charging documents, Maxwell “befriended” some of these victims, “including
by asking the victims about their lives, their schools, and their families”.
She and Epstein forged relationships with these girls, taking them shopping and
to the movies. The alleged grooming happened, according to the documents, at
Epstein’s mansion on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, his estate in Palm
Beach, Florida, his ranch in Sante Fe, New Mexico, as well as Maxwell’s
residence in London.
After
developing a rapport, the documents allege, “Maxwell would try to normalise
sexual abuse for a minor victim by, among other things, discussing sexual
topics, undressing in front of the victim, being present when a minor victim
was undressed, and/or being present for sex acts involving the minor victim and
Epstein”.
The
indictment claims that Maxwell would sometimes give Epstein massages in front
of victims whereas other times, she urged them to give him massages, “including
sexualized massage during which a minor victim would be fully or partially
nude.” These would often involve Epstein sexually abusing the minors.
On some
occasions, it is alleged Maxwell was “present for and participated in the
abuse”.
To hide her
involvement with Epstein’s abuse, Maxwell gave false information “under oath”
in civil litigation, the indictment claims.
Several of
Maxwell’s attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment.
Maxwell’s
father was the British media baron Robert Maxwell. She was a one-time
girlfriend of Epstein’s and key presence at his side in his glittering social
life, which often included rich, influential and powerful people from around
the world in politics, the arts and science.
Giuffre,
one of Epstein’s alleged victims, has said in a civil lawsuit that Maxwell
recruited her into Epstein’s circle, where she claims Epstein forced her to
have sex with him and friends including Andrew – who has consistently denied
the allegations.
His lawyers
insist the US Department of Justice has rejected three offers of help
volunteered by the prince this year.
Maxwell has
said Giuffre’s allegations are untrue. Giuffre in response filed a defamation
suit against Maxwell in 2015.
A photograph obtained by the Telegraph appears to
show her reclining on the throne beside the actor Kevin Spacey in 2002.
Ghislaine Maxwell will not say anything about
Prince Andrew, says friend
Laura Goldman says she expects Maxwell to seek plea
deal over charges relating to exploitation of young girls
Paul
MacInnes
@PaulMac
Sat 4 Jul
2020 11.33 BSTLast modified on Sat 4 Jul 2020 15.50 BST
Ghislaine
Maxwell would never say anything about the Duke of York’s relationship with
Jeffrey Epstein, according to one of her friends.
Maxwell
appeared in court in the US on Thursday accused of helping disgraced financier
Epstein “identify, befriend and groom” multiple girls, including one as young
as 14.
The duke,
who is a former friend of Epstein, has since been urged to provide information
to the investigation by a US attorney.
Laura
Goldman, a former investment banker, said she had spoken to Maxwell in the past
month over the investigation into Epstein’s sexual exploitation of young girls,
and that she had seen she was “coming to the end of the road”.
Speaking to
the Today programme on Saturday, Goldman was asked if Maxwell would seek to
obtain a plea deal in which she might plead guilty to some charges in return
for a commuted sentence. “I think she has to,” Goldman said.
Asked if
she would talk about Prince Andrew, Goldman said. “No. She’s always told me
that she would never ever say anything about him. I think she felt that he was
her friend and she was never ever going to say anything about him. She really
felt that in the 90s when her father died that Prince Andrew was there for her,
in many ways.”
Maxwell,
the daughter of the late media mogul Robert Maxwell, faces six charges:
conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, enticement
of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex acts, conspiracy to transport
minors, and transportation of a minor, with intent to engage in criminal sexual
activity, and two of perjury. If convicted she faces up to 35 years.
She has
denied any wrongdoing.
Epstein was
found dead in his cell, after apparently killing himself last August before
facing trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges.
Prince
Andrew has come under intense pressure to cooperate with the prosecution. US
prosecutors have said they would welcome a statement from the royal, while
lawyers for multiple women demanded he “be a man”, “speak up” and stop
“deliberately avoiding” US authorities.
Sources
close to the Duke of York’s legal working group have said he has offered his
assistance to the investigation “on a number of occasions this year” and that
the working group had “proactively contacted the DoJ twice in the last month
and have received no response”.
Goldman
said she became friends with Maxwell in New York in the 1990s. Goldman said she
attended Epstein’s “wild” parties in Palm Beach, Florida, but that she never
saw Maxwell with “young women”.
Asked if
she thought Maxwell was under the control of Epstein, Goldman said: “Yes, I do.
That doesn’t mean that what she did was OK.
“I think
she thought that if she did one more grooming, found him one more girl, he
would marry her. Is that OK? No. She honestly thought that at the end of the
day she was going to be Mrs Jeffrey Epstein.
“She knew
she was coming to the end of the road,” Goldman said of her most recent
conversations with Maxwell.
Goldman has
been challenged over her relationship with Maxwell, with one of Epstein’s
alleged victims, Victoria Roberts Giuffre, having called on Goldman to turn
Maxwell over to police.
It was
reported on Friday night that Prince Andrew had organised Maxwell a private
tour of Buckingham Palace, during which she had sat on a throne.
A
photograph obtained by the Telegraph appears to show her reclining on the
throne beside the actor Kevin Spacey in 2002.
The paper
said the pair were on a private tour of the palace organised by the prince for
the former US president, Bill Clinton.
opinion
Perhaps Ghislaine Maxwell can fill in some blanks
for Epstein's ‘bewildered’ friends
Marina Hyde
It’s strange that Prince Andrew never felt it was odd
that his middle-aged pal was always surrounded by teenage girls
Spare a
thought for Prince Andrew – and, indeed, a brain cell. As his landmark
Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis showed, the Queen’s second son really is
sensationally thick, even by the standards of a family internationally famed
for their dimbulbery, certainly since the time of George I. If the Falklands
war hadn’t robbed Andrew of the ability to sweat, now would definitely be the
moment to break out a bead or two.
Instead, I
see the Duke of York is once again “bewildered”, following the US arrest of his
close friend Ghislaine Maxwell, charged with the sex trafficking of underage
girls. HRH is “bewildered” that this dramatic event has led to yet another
podium shout-out from US prosecutors, who insist again that they want to
interview him about his close friend Jeffrey Epstein and the latter’s crimes
(don’t call it a “lifestyle”). “We would like to have the benefit of his
statement,” one US attorney said pointedly on Thursday. The previous occupant
of her post had claimed Andrew was refusing to help – and yet, according to
Andrew’s lawyers, he has been in touch with US authorities twice in the past
month, and their failure to respond has apparently led to the latest bout of
bewilderment.
Which
version is the most strictly accurate? US attorneys have a reputation for
publicity-seeking, so it really could be either party being economic with their
interpretation of the truth. There would be a certain poetic justice if it were
Prince Andrew who is now being used for something or other. Oh dear. One finds
oneself karma’s bitch.
If it helps
the duke get his head around that potential scenario: he is being used because
he has come to be perceived as weak and powerless. He is viewed as a somewhat
worthless figure who would nonetheless be quite the adornment to events. He is
being toyed with, gaslit and goaded, and this really is a no-win situation for
him. People’s default position on the things he says is disbelief. His desperate
assertions are dismissed as lies, the fact that he would make them branded a
joke. He is an object of ridicule, scorn and social disdain. Even his mother
clearly believed he should go away quietly.
On the plus
side, the duke isn’t feeling one thousandth of what it felt like to be one of
the many teenage girls and young women who would also feel all those things, as
they were drawn into Epstein’s web of rape and abuse, then spat out and
threatened into miserable, permanently damaged silence. On the other hand,
Andrew is certainly feeling SOMETHING that is never going to go away.
He may yet
feel something more concrete than that, given that Ghislaine Maxwell will now
be strongly encouraged toward total candour. Cast your mind back to Andrew’s
impolitic reflections on his longtime friend in the Newsnight interview. Asked
about Maxwell, he said: “If there are questions that Ghislaine has to answer,
that is her problem, I’m afraid.” (Very brave, sire. Was there even a single
line in the entire 592-car pile-up in which he didn’t make a number of
situations worse for himself? The deep vulnerabilities the interview opened up
are still revealing themselves to us like a slowly unfurling lotus blossom.)
Still, if
only the prince’s bewilderment – and that of many others – had kicked in rather
earlier. Part of me wonders whether something like the Vietnam war had robbed
HRH of the ability to feel bewildered during his friendship with Epstein.
Otherwise he might have felt bewildered as to why his middle-aged friend was so
often surrounded by teenage girls. He might have felt it bewildering to go to
Ghislaine Maxwell’s house, reportedly after a visit to Tramp nightclub, and
pass the rest of the evening with two other people in their 40s and a
17-year-old girl. Unless he knew exactly what was going on, that situation
should have bewildered the shit out of him. (I should mention that Prince
Andrew is bewildered by anyone who fails to accept he wasn’t there that night,
but at Pizza Express in Woking.)
This, alas,
is why it’s so hard to believe all the frightful bollocks about “not knowing”
being spouted by so many rich and powerful former friends of Epstein. One of
the most telling admissions in Filthy Rich, the Epstein documentary currently
showing on Netflix, comes from the former telephone engineer on Epstein’s
private island. “You tell yourself that you didn’t know for sure and you never
really saw anything, but that’s all just rationalisation. Jeffrey Epstein, he
was a guy who concealed his deviance very well – but he didn’t conceal it that
well.”
Well,
quite. There are many cases of huge and systematic abuse where we still pander
to the people who turned a blind eye to it, by saying that it was “a
sophisticated operation”. Epstein’s operation was certainly expensive. But was
it sophisticated? How sophisticated is it really when your private Caribbean
property is known locally as “Paedophile Island”?
It was much
the same with Michael Jackson, whose child abuse operation is again always
described as “sophisticated”. And yet, was it? The guy installed a massive
fairground outside his creepy house, told people he slept with kids in his bed,
and was dogged for decades by lawsuits from children – always boys, always
around the same age, always alleging the same patterns of behaviour. Expensive,
yes, but not sophisticated. Didn’t need to be.
One of
Jackson’s former advisers once claimed to have said to him: “Michael, you’re
going to wind up in a lot of trouble. Why don’t you stop all this stuff with
the young boys?” Jackson’s deathless reply was: “I don’t want to.” For me, that
is the absolute definitive Michael Jackson line. “I don’t want to.” You can
hear it now, in that unmistakeable singsong voice, suffused with an absolute
indifference to anything other than personal gratification, and the absolute
conviction that one way or another you’re going to get away with it. Which
proved to be the case. Why don’t you stop sexually abusing children? “I don’t
want to.”
In the case
of Jackson and Epstein’s servants, the silence about the “lifestyle issues” of
their employer is unforgivable, yet easily explained. They depended on the men
for their income. But in the case of the many, many rich people who turned a
blind eye to Epstein’s grotesque predilections, there really is not even the
slightest scintilla of a warped excuse. They knew enough to know. Donald Trump,
of course, was the only one stupid enough to say it out loud, laughing in an
interview that his friend Epstein’s girls were “on the younger side”. But
please don’t suggest Bill Clinton, an extremely clever man, was too stupid to
make basic assumptions, or that even Prince Andrew couldn’t have glommed on
once Epstein had been convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution.
Those are just the presidents and the prince; there are countless others
besides. Perhaps Ghislaine Maxwell will fill in some of the blanks behind their
blankness.
For now,
you might think the truly bewildering thing is that so many people didn’t say
anything. You might think it’s absolutely bewildering that these intelligent,
privileged, financially cosseted individuals never confronted Epstein about
something even they must have felt iffy calling a “lifestyle”. And yet, it
isn’t bewildering. There is, of course, a perfectly simple reason why they
never did the right thing. They didn’t want to.
• Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnis
Andrew (second left) has said he became friends
with Jeffrey Epstein (right) in 1999, after being introduced to him through
Ghislaine Maxwell. Pictured: Melania Trump, Andrew, Epstein's friend Gwendolyn
Beck and Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago in Florida in 2000
Prince Andrew is 'bewildered' over lack of
response from US justice officials as he and Royal Family brace for new
revelations after arrest of Jeffrey Epstein 'pimp' Maxwell
Ghislaine Maxwell, 58, arrested in US for allegedly
helping to lure underage girls
Girls were allegedly abused by paedophile Jeffrey
Epstein, who died last August
Arrest will now intensify calls for Andrew to be
questioned over any involvement
Andrew has previously claimed he has offered three
times to be a witness in case
But US prosecutors say he has declined their request
to schedule an interview
By MARK
DUELL FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED:
16:54, 2 July 2020 | UPDATED: 04:01, 3 July 2020
Prince
Andrew is said to be 'bewildered' over the lack of response from US justice
officials as the Royal Family brace themselves for new revelations after the
arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell.
Andrew's
six-month standoff with the FBI deepened after Maxwell was detained for
allegedly helping to lure underage girls who were then sexually abused by
Epstein.
Her arrest
in Bradford, New Hampshire, will now intensify calls for Andrew to be quizzed
about any involvement he may have had, despite him denying wrongdoing.
Andrew has
previously claimed he has offered three times to be a witness in the case, but
US prosecutors say he has declined their request to schedule an interview.
A source
close to the Duke's working group said: 'The Duke's team remains bewildered
given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ in the last month and
to-date, we have had no response.'
Royal
author Robert Jobson has suggested Andrew must now be living in fear that
Maxwell will implicate him in the 'gruesome' activities of paedophile Epstein.
Mr Jobson
who has written several books about the Royal family said that the arrest of
Maxwell had to be a ‘cause for concern’ and an ‘embarrassment’ for the Queen’s
60-year-old son.
‘He keeps
protesting his innocence, but her arrest has brought everything more sharply
into focus. It is certainly a very worrying development for him,' Mr Jobson
said.
‘It is
obviously a cause concern for him as nobody knows what she is going to say. She
could strike a deal with prosecutors for a lesser sentence in return for
implicating others.
‘I would
have thought that in order to open up the case, she is going to be asked to
name other names. That is where it could become even more difficult for Andrew.
‘If she
says anything about him, and she is bound to be asked about him, it could
implicate him or cause trouble for him. Whatever happens, it is an
embarrassment because she was clearly close to him and there are some pretty
gruesome charges against her.
‘If nothing
else, it will bring into question his judgment when it comes to friendships as
these are pretty unsavoury charges that she faces.’
Maxwell
lived for years with Epstein, whose victim Virginia Roberts Giuffre claimed she
arranged for her to have sex with the Duke of York at her London townhouse.
Andrew
denied her story and claimed last month he was being treated as a second-class
citizen by the US justice system, and it was untrue that he had not
co-operated.
Gloria
Allred, who is based in Los Angeles and represents 16 accusers of paedophile
Jeffrey Epstein, said the Queen's 60-year-old son must 'contact the FBI
immediately'.
She said
today: 'The arrest of Ghislaine Maxwell is a major development and demonstrates
that the criminal investigation is serious and that it continues.
'It is long
overdue for Prince Andrew to stop making excuses and to stop playing the
victim. He should contact the FBI immediately and agree to appear for an
interview.'
Asked what
58-year-old Maxwell's arrest could now mean for the Duke, a spokesman for his
legal team told MailOnline this afternoon: 'We won't be commenting.'
Today,
Audrey Strauss, acting US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said
she would 'welcome Prince Andrew coming in to talk with us to have the benefit
of his statement' but would not comment further on him in relation to the
probe.
Ms Strauss
said the FBI would be 'seeking detention' for Maxwell and that her team would
be 'in dialogue with the Bureau of Prisons about it'.
When asked
if she would be willing to hear evidence from Maxwell concerning others
involved despite the perjury charges against her, Ms Strauss said: 'This
sometimes happens when there are perjury charges and people can go on from
there and become co-operators if that is what you are asking, so I'm not
concerned about that.
'In the
event that she were to become a co-operator, I think that we can deal with
that.'
Andrew has
previously said he became friends in 1999 with Epstein - who killed himself in
jail last August - after being introduced to him through Maxwell.
The Duke,
who stayed at Epstein's house in 2010 after the financier's conviction, said in
a disastrous BBC interview last November that he did not regret their
friendship.
Epstein and
Maxwell were at a party hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle in June 2000, and
also attended a party for Maxwell at Sandringham in December that year.
Royal
author Mr Jobson said he believed that the Duchess of York had first introduced
Andrew to Ghislaine, the daughter of crooked newspaper tycoon Robert Maxwell
who plunged to his death from his yacht in mysterious circumstances in 1991.
Ghislaine
in turn introduced Andrew to billionaire Epstein who jumped at the chance of
ingratiating himself with a member of the Royal family.
Mr Jobson
said: ‘Andrew was clearly close to them both. He invited them to Royal
enclosure at Ascot and a party hosted by the Queen at Windsor Castle in 2000 as
well as a shooting weekend in Sandringham later in the same year.
‘It is the
case that Ghislaine has also associated with other members of the Royal family,
so people are going to become quite concerned.
‘She has
ben in the Royal circle so it becomes more and more embarrassing because it is
all getting closer and closer to the Queen.
‘Andrew has
tried to distance himself a bit from Epstein and can say that more was made of
their friendship than what there actually was, but it was clear that he was
still friends with Ghislaine after his friendship with Epstein ended.
‘He was in
touch with her long after he severed his ties with Epstein.’
Mr Jobson
said Andrew’s closeness to Ghislaine was illustrated by the infamous photograph
of him with his arm around 17-year-old Virginia Roberts which was said to have
been taken in Ghislaine’s flat in London in 2000.
He said:
‘While some close to Andrew have said the photograph was fabricated, the key
problem is that it was allegedly taken at Ghislaine’s home and she is there in
the picture lurking in the background.
‘The
photograph is being used all the time, so now that she has been charged with
procuring under age girls, it has become even more of an embarrassment and
potentially damaging for him.’
The US
Department of Justice has formally asked the Home Office for help to question
the Duke, which could see him grilled in court about his links to Epstein.
But
Andrew's lawyers said it was a cynical publicity stunt, accusing US officials
of breaking their own rules, telling untruths and trying to mislead the global
public.
Today, an
indictment claimed Maxwell 'assisted, facilitated and contributed to Jeffrey
Epstein's abuse of minor girls by, among other things, helping Epstein to
recruit, groom, and ultimately abuse' girls under the age of 18.
Mr Jobson
who has written books on Prince Charles and Princess Diana also said that
Maxwell’s arrest made it an even more distant prospect that Andrew would ever
be able to return to public life as a working Royal.
He said:
‘At this moment in time, until this matter is completely cleared up and people
are satisfied that he is telling the truth and is completely innocent, as he
says he is, there is no way back for him because there is so much hanging over
him.
‘It would
be impossible for him to carry out his duties. The fact that the whole Epstein
saga is now on Netflix and there is a new book about it doesn’t help his case.
‘But I
don’t think he is going to put himself in a position where he could be charged.
I don’t see him going to America.
‘The only
way he can start to clear his name is to present himself for questioning to the
FBI. I don’t think his lawyers will want him to do that because it could leave
him exposed.
‘It means
he is between the devil and the deep blue sea because he can’t expose himself
and risk becoming the next central focus of the Epstein inquiry.’
Epstein
killed himself in a federal prison in New York last summer while awaiting trial
on sex trafficking charges. Maxwell was accused by women of recruiting them to
give Epstein massages, during which they were pressured into sex.
The
indictment included counts of conspiracy to entice minors to travel to engage
in illegal sex acts, enticement of a minor to travel to engage in illegal sex
acts, conspiracy to transport minors with intent to engage in criminal sexual
activity, transportation of a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual
activity and two counts of perjury.
Maxwell has
previously repeatedly denied wrongdoing and called some of the claims against
her 'absolute rubbish'.
She was
described in a lawsuit by another Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, as the
'highest-ranking employee' of Epstein's alleged sex trafficking ring. The
lawsuit claimed she oversaw and trained recruiters, developed recruiting plans
and helped conceal activity from police.
The US
Attorney for the Southern District of New York will announce charges later
today against Maxwell 'for her role in the sexual exploitation and abuse of
multiple minor girls by Jeffrey Epstein'.
Federal
prosecutors said in court papers she had 'enticed and caused minor victims to
travel to Epstein's residence in different states' and that Maxwell would
assist in their 'grooming for and subjection to sexual abuse.'
Prosecutors
charged that Maxwell was well aware of Epstein's preference for minor girls, and
that he intended to sexually abuse them.
Maxwell has
kept a low profile since the death of Epstein, a financier who was accused of
raping and trafficking underage girls over nearly two decades.
Some of
Epstein's alleged victims have said Maxwell lured them into his circle, where
they were sexually abused by him and powerful friends. Maxwell was an
ex-girlfriend of Epstein who became a longtime member of his inner circle.
Andrew had
promised last year, after a disastrous Newsnight interview, to 'help any
appropriate law enforcement agency with their investigations' into Epstein.
According
to Andrew, the first he heard from the FBI in their 16-year investigation into
Epstein was on January 2.
And he was
just beginning the process of suggesting how he might answer their questions
when, according to his friends, the Americans 'went nuclear'.
On January
27, Geoffrey Berman, the top federal prosecutor in Manhattan, stood outside
Epstein's New York mansion and publicly accused the prince of reneging on his
pledge by offering 'zero assistance' to the FBI.
On March 9
he claimed the royal had 'completely shut the door' on cooperating.
But on June
8, as Epstein's victims demanded he 'end the cat and mouse game', Andrew's City
law firm Blackfords issued a 604-word statement effectively calling the
Americans liars.
It called
Mr Berman's claims 'inaccurate' and said it had agreed to cooperate with the
Department of Justice on the basis 'our discussions and the interview process
would remain confidential', insisting it was given an unequivocal assurance on
this point.
Blackfords
said: 'The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his
assistance as a witness to the DoJ.
'Unfortunately,
the DoJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own
confidentiality rules and claiming that the Duke has offered zero cooperation.
In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance
proffered.'
The
statement by Andrew's lawyers continued: 'It is a matter of regret that the DoJ
has seen fit to breach its own rules of confidentiality, not least as they are
designed to encourage witness cooperation.
'He is
being treated by a lower standard than might reasonably be expected for any
other citizen. Those same breaches of confidentiality by the DoJ have given the
global media - and, therefore, the worldwide audience - an entirely misleading
account of our discussions with them.'
But Mr
Berman hit back by saying: 'Prince Andrew yet again sought to falsely portray
himself to the public as eager and willing to cooperate with an ongoing federal
criminal investigation into sex trafficking and related offences committed by
Jeffrey Epstein and his associates, even though the prince has not given an
interview to federal authorities, has repeatedly declined our request to
schedule such an interview, and nearly four months ago informed us
unequivocally - through the very same counsel who issued today's release - that
he would not come in for such an interview.
'If Prince
Andrew is, in fact, serious about cooperating with the ongoing federal
investigation, our doors remain open, and we await word of when we should expect
him.'
Andrew is
being represented by Clare Montgomery, a leading QC in extradition cases. She
represented the Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet and also the Swedish
state in its 2012 attempt to extradite Julian Assange.
Last month
it was also revealed that the DoJ formally applied to the Home Office in May
under a 1994 treaty between the two countries to provide Mutual Legal
Assistance.
The request
from the Americans - a 'diplomatic nightmare' which has yet to be granted,
according to Whitehall sources - means Andrew could be forced to answer FBI
questions in a British court.
He would in
theory be entitled to 'plead the 5th' Amendment, remain silent to avoid
incriminating himself.
Asked
previously during a Fox News interview whether the US had asked Britain to hand
over Andrew, attorney general William Barr said: 'I think it's just a question
of having him provide some evidence.' Asked if he would be extradited, Barr
replied 'No'.
Gloria
Allred, who represents two women treated as sex slaves by the late Epstein,
previously said: 'By refusing to voluntarily answer questions posed by law
enforcement, Prince Andrew has demonstrated disrespect for the victims and
their need to know the truth.
'It is time
for the prince to stop this cat and mouse game and stand before the bar of
justice'.
Miss
Roberts, 36, who claims she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when
she was 17, previously retweeted a comment calling on the Home Office to
extradite him to America.
Andrew
vehemently denies any wrongdoing and says he does not even recall Miss Roberts.
It has all
the hallmarks of a 21st-century political thriller, including a plot to
assassinate a controversial monarch, an MI5 double agent, and claims of a
high-level cover-up.
In 1936, an
MI5 informant called George McMahon tried to assassinate King Edward VIII as he
rode his horse near Buckingham Palace. Just as he was taking aim with a
revolver, a woman in the crowd grabbed his arm and a policeman punched him,
causing the weapon to fly into the road and strike the monarch’s mount.
At his Old
Bailey trial, McMahon insisted that a foreign power had paid him to kill the
king and that he had deliberately bungled the assassination. Portrayed as a
fantasist, he was convicted on a lesser offence of “unlawfully possessing a
firearm and ammunition to endanger life” and imprisoned for 12 months.
Now claims
of a cover-up at the highest level have emerged following the discovery of the
would-be assassin’s memoir, in which he detailed the plot, his subsequent
arrest and trial.
The
previously unpublished account was discovered by the historian Alexander
Larman, who told the Guardian that its claims are “explosive” because crucial
details match those in declassified MI5 documents, including memos of their
meetings with him.
In the
account, titled “He Was My King”, McMahon asserted that he was recruited by the
Italian embassy in London to assassinate the king and that his attempts to warn
MI5 and even the then home secretary were ignored.
Larman
said: “McMahon’s account corroborates a large amount of previously confidential
and sealed MI5 documentation in the National Archives, which reveals that
McMahon was also a paid MI5 informant who was passing them information about
the workings of the Italian embassy in his guise as a double agent.
“McMahon
informed MI5 that there would be an attempt on Edward’s life in the summer of
1936, but they ignored his information, dismissing him as unreliable. When this
indeed took place on 16 July, it became hugely embarrassing to the country and
a cover-up took place.”
Questioning
MI5’s judgement in recruiting a heavy-drinking, Walter Mitty-type character as
an informant, he described the memoir as being about 40 pages long with
“barking mad” passages: “But, while it would have been easy to have written him
off as a fantasist, there are declassified memos of all these meetings that MI5
had with him.” One confidential MI5 document records that some of his
information was “undoubtedly accurate”.
Larman said
that, because the assassination attempt was so scandalous, “the best thing the
establishment could do was essentially neutralise him as an attention-seeker”.
He added: “His argument in his memoir is that he was being hired by the Italian
embassy to do outrageous things and that he was feeding all the information
back to MI5.”
McMahon was
a low-level fraudster and gun-runner to Abyssinia when he came to the Italians’
attention. They offered him cash for information about armaments. His memoir
records payments as an MI5 informant: “I was to act thenceforth under the
direction and supervision of the Military Intelligence Department.” Official
records show that he met with intelligence services frequently in late 1935 and
early 1936.
Larman
discovered the memoir in researching his forthcoming book on Edward VIII and
the abdication, a constitutional crisis sparked by his wish to marry the
American divorcee Wallis Simpson.
He stumbled
across it among the papers of Walter Monckton, which are housed at Balliol
College, Oxford: “Monckton was Edward’s adviser. He not only acted for him
during the abdication, but he stayed in touch afterwards. Presumably, this
document came into Edward and Wallis’s possession some time after the
abdication. It was then sent to Monckton and remained in his archives.”
The
discovery will feature in Larman’s book, The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the
Abdication, to be published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson on 9 July.
He writes:
“The accepted version of the events, as depicted by historians and by Edward
himself in his memoirs, is that McMahon was a confused attention-seeker who
never had any serious intention of doing any harm to the king … However,
recently declassified MI5 files, to say nothing of an extraordinary
autobiographical document … offer a stranger and more complex narrative.
“It is
entirely possible that MI5 were aware of McMahon’s planned attempt and were
happy to let him assassinate Edward, thereby removing an internationally
embarrassing monarch with believed Nazi sympathies from the throne. Or,
alternatively, simply that they were embarrassed by their arrogance and
incompetence.”
