Prince Andrew enjoys fresh air riding horse in Windsor while Ghislaine Maxwell exercises in prison

Prince Andrew has been spotted enjoying the fresh air while his former boyfriend Ghislaine Maxwell kept fit in the US prison where she is serving 20 years for smuggling young girls for sex.

The disgraced prince, who was friends with Jeffrey Epstein, looked gloomy today as he rode his horse around the Windsor Estate.

The former boyfriend of 62-year-old and disgraced British socialite Maxwell has kept fit by running and playing softball – which she is apparently “obsessed” with.

This comes after it was claimed Prince Andrew is in a ‘self-imposed lockdown’ watching TV boxes and was called ‘a close friend’ by Maxwell.

Andrew is said to be a “virtual recluse” who ventures only twice a week to go horseback riding, the occasional swim, or to meet the royal corgis Muick and Sandy and his and ex-‘s five Norfolk terriers. wife Sarah Ferguson walking, insiders have revealed.

And his days outside have also dwindled after his mother died in Balmoral last month.

In prison, Maxwell, 60, is said to love softball so much that she has taken up playing competitive games, which represents her prison wing.

Inmates have now named the child sex trafficker “Dottie” – after the character in the baseball movie A League of Their Own.

Lockdown conditions at Florida’s Tallahassee Prison, where Maxwell is serving for 20 years, have recently eased, giving the cons more recreational time.

A prison source told the mirror: ‘When there is a match, Ghislaine wants to play. When she took to the field, they called her Dottie. It stuck.’

The trip comes after he was called “a good friend” by convicted sex trafficker Maxwell two weeks ago.

She also said in the interview with The Sun, her first since she was arrested in July 2020, that she feels “so bad” for him when she spoke to the outlet from prison.

Maxwell, who is serving 20 years for sex trafficking, also said she is following what happens to him as Andrew comes under scrutiny for his friendship with her and Jeffrey Epstein, who died in 2019.

Ghislaine also spoke about her friendship with Andrew. She said: ‘I accept that this friendship could not survive my conviction’ after she was told that the prince’s lawyers said they were never close.”

Epstein was under arrest on charges of sex trafficking and child sexual abuse when he died.

Andrew was also questioned about an image featuring Virginia Guiffre, who was an alleged sex trafficking victim from Epstein and Maxwell.

But Andrew has maintained that the photo was not real, and has strenuously denied being involved in their sex trade.