Christy Von Aspen (above) 39, was pictured with Prince Andrew in St Tropez in 2007
The stunning socialite pictured with Prince Andrew in St Tropez turned her back on her party lifestyle to run a wellness centre in Monaco, Mail Online can reveal.
IT girl Christy Von Aspen cavorted with the Duke of York on the dance floor during a wild night out in 2007.
In the now notorious set of pictures the playboy prince – under pressure over his friendship with disgraced paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – grinned for the camera as he embraced the blonde interior designer, who then licked his face.
Described as a ‘real party girl back then’, Ms Von Aspen was dating Prince Albert of Monaco’s right-hand man Bruno Philipponnat at the time – and got into ‘real trouble’ over the pictures, it is claimed.
But friends have told Mail Online she shunned partying after her night out with the Queen’s second son and now lives quietly running a health retreat in the principality.
Long-time associate Richard Gradner said: ‘These photos of her with Prince Andrew do not show Chris’s true character.
The Duke of York enjoyed himself with Ms Von Aspen, a former socialite, during their encounter on the French Riviera 12 years ago
Ms Von Aspen, an American IT girl, was was working in the South of France as an interior designer at the time, playfully holds the Duke’s mouth into a grin for the camera
The blonde socialite who was then 27 and dating Prince Albert of Monaco’s right-hand man Bruno Philipponnat at the time then licked the royal’s face during their encounter
The prince was seen chatting to an unnamed blonde woman as Ms Von Aspen gyrated her hips in the direction of His Royal Highness during their wild night out
‘If she was into partying, she has cleaned up her act greatly since those days and taken a different path.
‘I would say she never partied more than anybody else,’ said Mr Gradner, who met her through mutual friends seven years ago when she spent time in South Africa.
He went on: ‘Certainly she would have gone to Monaco because that is where the people of influence go.
‘She knew she could make a success of her business there. She asked for my help in marketing her work and with her website. I know she took people to a retreat in Italy too.’
Of that night out an onlooker who saw the pair said: ‘Chris was buzzed from drinking and had met Andrew before so she approached him.
Since her encounter with the Duke, Ms Von Aspen quit her job as an interior designer and turned her back on southern France’s late night party seen to set up a holistic centre in Monaco
‘She was a real reveller back then and went to all the celebrity parties in New York, LA, Saint-Tropez and Monaco.
‘Chris later claimed she hooked up with Andrew and you can see in the pictures that he was having a great time with her.
‘He had a wild look in his eye – you can see that in the pictures too.’
During the same trip Andrew was pictured cosying up to Canadian model Pascale Bourbeau at a bash he attended alongside his eldest daughter Princess Beatrice.
In a second set of pictures, he put his hand on Pascale’s rear as they stand close together at the home of billionaire fire extinguisher magnate Tony Murray.
A year later the royal was seen at yet another wild party, this time thrown by wine tycoon Claude Ott on the French Riviera – just weeks after his shamed pal Epstein was prosecuted for trafficking an underage girl and forcing her into prostitution.
Ms Von Aspen, who spends time in Monaco and the US, has filled her Instagram page with pictures of her looking tanned, happy and healthy
In a film from the 2008 soiree, the prince appears worse for wear, his hair dishevelled with a hint of sweat and jacket abandoned.
Dressed in all white, with his shirt untucked, he is seen heading to the dance floor with two women as techno blares out before he settles down talking to several glamorous female guests, getting in close to chat because of the loud music. He was seen dancing at close quarters with a Libyan model named Nadia Boejna.
That night he was also filmed chatting with Polish-born socialite Beata Bohman – who went on to make headlines when she was arrested for shoplifting an $11,000 fur-lined scarf in New York.
Later, he headed to a marina at Murray’s mansion and got on a boat accompanied by ‘five or six women’ while Beatrice, now 31, left separately, according to a witness.
A friend of Ms Von Aspen told Mail Online that the now-notorious photos of that night out do not accurately reflect how the 39-year-old health and fitness expert lives her life today
A former Saint-Tropez reveler revealed: ‘These were really crazy years for Andrew.
‘He was clearly having a full-blown midlife crisis. He would have been 47 or 48 at the time, divorced from Sarah Ferguson, and basking in the attention he got from young women.
‘These were private parties held at mansions so I guess he felt he could let his guard down.
‘Things can get quite loose in Saint-Tropez. There were lots of beautiful young women looking for rich men.
‘People would often go off to the toilets to do drugs or for oral sex.
‘That was the best time to party in Saint-Tropez. Social media hadn’t really taken off and most people didn’t have cameras on their phone yet so people could just go and have fun.
‘Lots of the girls gravitated towards Andrew – royalty has that effect on the kind of women who flock to Saint-Tropez.’
Andrew’s partying days have come under increased scrutiny recently due to his controversial relationship with Epstein, who killed himself aged 66 in a New York jail cell in August after being arrested on federal sex trafficking charges.
Following Epstein’s death, the Prince released a statement denying he ever saw or suspected any criminal behaviour by the wealthy financier.
Andrew was seen with Canadian socialite Pascale Bourbeau during the same trip at another party in Saint-Tropez in July 2007, this time hosted by fire extinguisher tycoon Tony Murray
The playboy Prince Andrew, whose nickname is Randy Andy, was seen chatting to German supermodel Heidi Klum at a New York Hookers and Pimps-themed Halloween party in 2000
At the same party Ghislaine Maxwell – who allegedly helped procure young women for the billionaire US financier Epstein – had her arm around the prince during the evening
However, he has faced a barrage of claims, including from Virginia Roberts who accuse the Duke of York of sleeping with her when she was 17.
Andrew agreed to do his ‘car crash’ BBC interview in a failed attempt to repair his reputation and set the record straight.
In the excruciating 50-minute long interview with Emily Maitlis, the royal made a series of bizarre claims in which he tried to distance himself from Ms Roberts’ claims in which he claimed a medical condition meant he couldn’t sweat after being shot at during The Falklands.
He also said he couldn’t have had sex with Ms Roberts in March 2001 because that night he was at Pizza Express in Woking celebrating Beatrice’s 18th birthday.
