An Australian-born ex-girlfriend of former prince Andrew – who Ghislaine Maxwell played matchmaker to – has kept close to his family decades after their highly-publicised romance.
PR queen Emma Gibbs, now known by her married name Emma Farah, works as the events boss at a posh florist in London and counts international royalty as among her closest friends.
Mrs Farah has never addressed multiple reports that Maxwell fixed her and Andrew up in the spring of 2000, when Emma was in her 30s. The couple was seen kissing at a Polo Models party at The Catch restaurant in London in July 2000.
‘By 2000 (Maxwell) and Andrew were very close. But they were not a couple,’ The Times reported in 2019.
Another report by the same publication said ‘Andrew is said to get on better with women (and) has always kept on good terms with his former girlfriends, such as… Emma Gibbs’.
Andrew was sensationally stripped of his titles and styles by King Charles on Friday (Australia time), and initiated proceedings to remove him from his home, The Lodge at Windsor, following the ongoing disgrace of his connections to Epstein and Maxwell.
Maxwell is serving a 20-year sentence in the US for helping Epstein abuse underage girls.
Former Prince, Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, with Emma Gibbs at a 2000 party
Now Mrs Farah, Emma (right) is pictured with writer Louise Fennell in Chelsea in 2024
It can be revealed that Mrs Farah was still connected to Andrew, Sarah and their daughters in recent years.
Mrs Farah helped create the impressive floral arch for a previous employer at Beatrice’s 2020 ‘Covid wedding’ to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, which was held at the Royal Chapel of All Saints at the Royal Lodge in Windsor – Andrew’s longtime home.
‘Having worked for (floral designer) Rob Van Helden for nearly 18 years, I have seen some incredible events produced all around the world,’ Mrs Farah said in an interview for UK candlemaker Victoria Cator’s website.
‘But my most favourite wedding arch is the one we created for HRH Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.’
Andrew attended the small wedding alongside his late parents, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II, but was not in any of the official portraits distributed by Buckingham Palace.
Mrs Farah also played a role in the wedding florals of Eugenie’s 2019 wedding to Jack Brooksbank.
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The King has initiated the process of removing his brother’s titles and styles
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Mrs Farah played a role in creating the opulent arch at Princess Beatrice’s wedding
She attended a 2019 Horseguards Parade at Buckingham Palace alongside the family, who were supporting Andrew in his former role as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
Posting a picture of Andrew, Sarah, Beatrice, Edoardo, Eugenie and Jack to her social media, Emma said, ‘What an honour to have been invited! England at its best! Glorious sunshine, friends and family!’
In his book titled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York, which was released in August, historian Andrew Lownie revisited claims that newly single Andrew, fresh from his 1996 divorce from Sarah, had been ‘entertaining a succession of young women in his bijou apartment at Buckingham Palace’.
He wrote that ‘new relationships had included Emma Gibbs, an Australian who worked in public relations… (and) ex-Vogue Living journalist Nicci Brown, whom he had courted in Australia.’
It is understood Ms Brown, who confirmed to Mr Lownie in 2023 that she knew Andrew ‘over a decade or more ago’, lives in Melbourne with her family.
In the picture section of his book, Mr Lownie published an image of Andrew and Emma together, adding that he ‘met her through Ghislaine Maxwell’.
Mr Lownie shared his research of newspapers from the time exclusively with Daily Mail.
On April 2, 2000, a source told the UK Telegraph: ‘Andrew is very, very keen on Emma and although she’s slightly less struck, they have been seeing a lot of each other’.
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Mrs Farah is pictured with Marie-Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, in 2023
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Andrew Lownie’s book Entitled cast a bright spotlight onto the disgraced ex-duke’s life
By April 7, the cat was out of the bag, and the then-Ms Gibbs reportedly told media, ‘We managed to keep it secret for months.
‘I still don’t know how the news came out but the last 48 hours have been non-stop.’
While Mrs Farah was a fixture by Andrew’s side in the heady 2000s London party circuit, the romance fizzled out.
She is now happily married to Dr Marc Farah, an osteopathic and natural physician.
A Sydney Morning Herald obituary for Mrs Farah’s father David Gibbs AM, who died in 2009 aged 82, said the Farahs have a son, Maximilian.
Mrs Farah spent her childhood in Australia, and spoke of missing it during the UK’s Covid lockdowns.
‘I have been dreaming of the long, hot Australian summers – barbecues by the beach, magical sunsets, chilled rose’ and friends,’ she said.
‘But seeing as we are stuck in the middle of the gloomy winter, I just appreciate sitting by the fire, watching Netflix, after cooking a delicious dinner.’
Emma, left, with Marie-Chantal and model Saffron Aldridge at a 2015 London party
Ghislaine Maxwell pictured with her boyfriend, dead paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein
Daily Mail approached Mrs Farah for comment about the reports of meeting Andrew via Maxwell, and asked for further details. She did not respond.
While her Maxwell-sponsored romance with Prince Andrew didn’t work out, Mrs Farah rubs shoulders with European royalty.
She is understood to be close friends with Marie Chantal, Crown Princess of Greece, and her husband Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece.
Mrs Farah joined them, along with Princess Tatiana of Greece and Denmark, for a family holiday in August 2023.
Prince Joachim of Denmark and Elizabeth Hurley were among the guests at Mrs Farah’s wedding.
Mrs Farah has frequently appeared on society bible Tatler’s social pages, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Princess Margaret’s daughter Lady Sarah Chatto, Australian supermodel Elle Macpherson, along with other assorted Marquesses and Baronesses.
Earlier this year, a friend described Mrs Farah as someone who ‘doesn’t suffer fools gladly. At all. She’s the person you go to when you need someone to tell you the brutal truth and help you fix whatever mess you find yourself in’.
Andrew’s ties to Epstein – and Maxwell – have once again dominated headlines, following renewed attention on his sex accuser Virginia Giuffre’s claims after her posthumous book was released.
A spokesperson for Buckingham Palace said: ‘His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.
‘Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
The King has insisted Andrew, and his ex-wife Sarah, vacate the Lodge
The pair have been instructed to move to alternative private accommodation
‘Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
‘Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.’
Last month, The Mail on Sunday revealed that Andrew attempted to involve the Metropolitan Police and one of Queen Elizabeth’s most senior aides in a campaign to smear Ms Giuffre, who accused him of assaulting her as a teenager.
A bombshell email exposed how Andrew asked his taxpayer-funded police bodyguard to investigate the ‘lying’ young woman.
The prince allegedly passed on details of her date of birth and social security number – information believed to have been supplied by Epstein.
He also alleged that Ms Giuffre, who tragically took her own life earlier this year, had criminal convictions – a claim that has not been supported by any evidence and has been strongly denied by her family.
Further revelations have shown that Andrew lied to Buckingham Palace and the British public when he claimed he had cut ties with Epstein in December 2010 following the financier’s release from prison.
Twelve weeks later, he emailed Epstein saying they were ‘in this together’ and expressed his wish to ‘play some more soon’.
Ghislaine Maxwell is in prison in the US for sex trafficking children
Last month, the Mail on Sunday exposed Andrew’s attempt to smear the late Virginia Giuffre
Meanwhile, Sarah Ferguson, Andrew’s ex-wife, has also faced renewed scrutiny amid claims that Epstein secretly bankrolled her for 15 years.
The convicted paedophile allegedly complained to friends about the Duchess’s ‘scrounging ways’ in emails suggesting his financial support went far beyond the £15,000 she previously admitted to receiving from him.
In newly unearthed emails, Epstein claimed that Fergie was so eager to maintain ties with him that ‘she was the first to celebrate’ his release from jail ‘with her two daughters in tow’.
Princess Beatrice would have been 20 at the time and Princess Eugenie 19 – the same age as many of Epstein’s victims.
These claims are contained within a vast cache of documents currently being reviewed by the US Congress, expected to be released once redacted to protect the identities of Epstein’s victims.
Last month, the Mail on Sunday revealed how Fergie wrote to Epstein describing him as a ‘supreme friend’, just weeks after telling the Evening Standard that she would ‘never have anything to do with’ the sex offender again.
In her March 7, 2011, interview, the Duchess issued a ‘heartfelt apology’ for accepting the money from Epstein, calling it ‘a giant error of judgment’.
That comment infuriated Epstein, who emailed French modelling agent Jean-Luc Brunel complaining: ‘The duchess that I have financially helped for 15 years said that she wants nothing to do with a paedophile and child sex abuser. It has caused quite a stir.’