Who is Goga Ashkenazi, Prince Andrew’s ‘friend’?

It is probably all Prince Andrew needs at the moment - a glamorous young Kazakh oil tycoon who claims to be a "close friend" of the royal wading into the row over his links to Jeffrey Epstein and the Gaddafi family and spilling the beans on the controversial sale of his mansion for £3m more than the asking price in 2007.

In a simpering interview with the Evening Standard, Goga Ashkenazi, a 31-year-old Oxford University-educated socialite and entrepreneur, spewed forth on the predicament that the Prince now finds himself in, insisting "Britain is very lucky to have him", even though Buckingham Palace denied he had ever discussed the matter with her.

She was first introduced to Prince Andrew in 2001 by Lord Hanson's son Robert and they have been close ever since. She was his guest at Ascot in 2007, although she denies rumours that they were ever an item.

Ashkenazi, who counts Flavio Briatore among her former lovers and is friends with Evening Standard proprietor Alexander Lebedev, told the paper that Prince Andrew's links with Epstein were entirely innocent.

The American billionaire is on the US sex offenders register and spent 13 months in jail for soliciting prostitution from minors. But Ashkenazi said: "Of course, he knows it was unwise to fraternise with this Epstein character, and it was silly to be photographed with his arm around Epstein's masseuse. I know Andrew as a lovely, lovely man - kind-hearted, impeccably behaved and honourable - and I'm quite sure that at the time he had no idea that she was underage or anything more than a masseuse to Epstein."

She added: "He is a superb trade envoy, totally passionate and patriotic and doing the most amazing job for British business by opening doors behind the scenes - and for no personal gain."

Ashkenazi ploughed on, ruminating on her relationship with Colonel Gaddafi's son Saif, who also knows Andrew. She explained: "Saif is more of an acquaintance than a friend. I've only known him three years. It's not like with Andrew where we talk regularly, go to dinner or invite each other to our respective birthday parties."

Next she tackled the thorny issue of Sunninghill Park, the 12-bedroom home once owned by Andrew and bought by Timur Kulibayev, the son-in-law of the President of Kazakhstan and the father of Ashkenazi's three-year-old son Adam.

The house had been on the market for three years at £12m when it was purchased for £15m by Kulibayev. "Do you think he knew that he paid over the odds? He had no idea," announced Ashkenazi.

She then revealed that the plan was "to convert it into a charitable school for bright Kazakh children who can come here to do their A-levels and then try for the top British universities". But according to the Financial Times no planning permission has ever been requested.

A spokesman for the Duke also told the FT that he "did not at any time discuss his future as a special representative" with Ashkenazi, somewhat undermining her claims in the paper that he had contacted her at the weekend to say he was "very, very worried" and "distressed" about the media furore. ·