Sara Ferguson's loyal assistant Antonia Marshall holidays in Barbados with Lady Victoria Hervey - who claims Virgina Giuffre's notorious photo with the Duke was 'faked'

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Sarah Ferguson's loyal assistant has shared photos from her holiday with staunch Prince Andrew supporter Lady Victoria Hervey - as the socialite continues to claim Virgina Giuffre's notorious photo with the royal was 'faked'.

Antonia Marshall - who has worked for the Duchess of York for the past 13 years - travelled to Barbados with the socialite to celebrate the New Year, and although there's no suggestion Fergie has joined the trip, it raises and intriguing link between the royal and one of her ex-husband's most vocal allies. 

During the trip, Lady Victoria, 47, jumped to Prince Andrew's defence again following the release of documents detailing sexual assault allegations made against the royal. 

On Sunday, the Duchess' long-term employee posted a series of images from the trip with her close friend - including one of the two women enjoying a boat trip.

In the image, a bikini-clad Lady Victoria - who briefly dated Prince Andrew in 1999 -  is seen sitting at the front of the boat while Antonia perches on the side.

Pictured: Lady Victoria Hervey poses with Sarah Ferguson's assistant Antonia Marshall during their Barbados getaway

The pair posed for a smiley black-and-white selfie during their getaway and were also pictured posing on a balcony as they enjoyed a view of the island.

Alongside some images of the Caribbean sea, sky and sunsets, Antonia simply captioned the post: 'Island Life.' 

Although Antonia has never publicly commented on the sexual assault allegations made against Prince Andrew, her close friend has publicly defended the royal on numerous occasions.

Lady Victoria posed in a T-shirt featuring the notorious photograph of the disgraced royal standing with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, with the word 'faked' emblazoned across it.

The socialite repeated claims made by her ex-boyfriend Prince Andrew in his 2019 Newsnight interview that the image of him and Virginia with Ghislaine Maxwell in the background had been doctored.

Virginia claims she was trafficked by the late Jeffrey Epstein and the now-jailed Ghislaine, and forced to have sex with the royal on three occasions when she was 17, claims Prince Andrew strenuously denies. 

Papers released by a New York court last week thrust the Duke of York's relationship with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein back into the spotlight with claims that the prince committed 'acts of sexual abuse' and took part in an 'underage orgy'. Andrew has vehemently and repeatedly denied all allegations against him.

Explosive court documents revealed how, following an order from a US court, Maxwell's lawyers were instructed to scour all her electronic devices for any mention of the Prince, other acquaintances of paedophile Jeffrey Epstein and a string of sordid words. 

A bikini-clad Lady Victoria - who briefly dated Prince Andrew in 1999 - is seen sitting at the front of the boat while Antonia perches on the side

Sarah Ferguson's assistant Antonia Marshall (left) pictured with the Duchess of York and TV producer David Ellender during an event in Beverly Hills

The pair were also pictured posing on a balcony as they enjoyed a view of the island during their getaway

These included 'Prince', 'Andrew', 'Duke', York', 'Royal', 'underage', 'massage', 'slave', 'sex', 'nipple' and 'dildo', according to the devastating legal papers. 

As Antonia and Victoria's getaway drew to a close, the socialite shared a post gushing about the 'restful and peaceful holiday' and telling her 548,000 Instagram followers that it was 'time to get back to reality'.

Victoria captioned her Instagram post: 'Current news updates on the absurd will be on my story. Time for the accusers' backgrounds to be revealed and exposed. 

'We must not continue one side of the story.' 

In February 2023, Lady Victoria appeared on Good Morning Britain to debate whether charity work would rehabilitate Andrew's image. 

During the debate, the socialite sensationally labelled Virgina Giuffre a 'con artist' and tried to 'make a bet' on air that she 'was right' about the allegations - which prompted host Susanna Reid to put a stop to the interview.

Lady Victoria Hervey, 47, has posed in a T-shirt featuring the notorious photograph of Prince Andrew standing with his arm around Virginia Giuffre, with the word 'faked' across it

Virginia (centre) claims she was trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein and the jailed Ghislaine (right), and forced to have sex with the royal (left) on three occasions when she was 17, claims Prince Andrew strenuously denies

Lady Victoria Hervey (looking towards the camera) stands near Prince Andrew (left) at a party in London in January 2002

She was joined by barrister and equality campaigner Dr Charlotte Proudman on the segment, who argued it 'is not the role of charities to rehabilitate princes'. 

But the debate became heated when Lady Victoria kept interrupting to defend the Duke of York, saying: 'He's never met her, by the way.'

In one particularly terse exchange, Dr Proudman pointed out that Mrs Giuffre was 'a victim of sex trafficking' however Lady Victoria butted in: 'She's not, she's a liar.'

She continued: 'I think they are [charities] going to work with him because there's a lot of stuff coming out about her that she is a complete con artist.'

She then added: 'Can we do a bet right now? Can we do a bet live on air that I'm right?'

GMB host swiftly ended the interview, saying: 'I'm going to bring this interview to an end because you cannot smear victims of sex-trafficking who have already been through hell.'

Prince Andrew told BBC Newsnight in 2019: 'You can't prove whether or not that photograph is faked because it's a photograph of a photograph of a photograph.

'It's very difficult to be able to prove it but I don't remember that photograph being taken… That's me but whether that's my hand… I have simply no recollection of the photograph ever being taken.'

The royal also said he thought he had never been upstairs in his friend Ghislaine Maxwell's house, where the photo appears to have been taken.

But Virginia told BBC Panorama in 2019 that the photo is genuine and she gave the original to the FBI in 2011.