Photographer claims to have ‘jaw-dropping’ photo of Prince Andrew taken during Newsnight interview

A photo apparently taken of the disgraced royal during an infamous TV interview would cause “much embarrassment” if released.

A photographer claims to have a “jaw-dropping” image of Prince Andrew that could rock the monarchy if it was made public.

BBC photographer Mark Harrison claims he took an image of the Duke of York during his disastrous TV interview in 2019 where he was grilled about his links to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

The disgraced royal apparently is aware the picture was taken and has insisted it never be made public.

“It’s the kind of thing which would make the public drop their cornflakes, it is definitely not what Andrew would want out there and apparently he insisted that it remained secret,” a source said, according to The Mirror.

“Our jaws dropped to the floor when we saw it. It would cause Andrew much embarrassment.”

The source also teased everything has a price: “It’s the kind of thing which would make the public drop their cornflakes, it is definitely not what Andrew would want out there and apparently he insisted that it remained secret.”

Prince Andrew’s performance on a Newsnight interview in 2019 has been described as “humiliating”. Picture: BBC

The infamous interview is set to become a feature film with Four Weddings and a Funeral star Hugh Grant reportedly in the mix to play Prince Andrew.

“There is, of course, a chance that it will at some point come out for all to see, perhaps if the price is right and of course the movie about the interview is happening so that is a possibility,” the source teased.

The prince has declined to comment.

Prince Andrew’s appearance on British current affairs show Newsnight became one of the most ridiculed interviews in recent times and contributed to his dramatic fall from grace and subsequent public axing from the royal family.

Scoop, written and created by acclaimed screenwriter Peter Moffat, will tell the inside story behind the royal’s bombshell hour-long interview with BBC journalist, Emily Maitlis.

Based a new book by former Newsnight producer, Sam McAlister, it will tell the story of how the BBC obtained the interview.

BBC reporter Emily Maitlis has been lauded for her relentless questioning of the royal’s behaviour. Picture: BBC

The film will show Newsnight’s first failed approach to Buckingham Palace, and then move through the negotiations with Prince Andrew and his team, interview rehearsals, the interview itself and the humiliating aftermath, which was famously described as, “a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion”.

“What the hell did he think he was doing? Who got him to do it? Why, when the rest of the world was so appalled, did he think it had gone so well? What kind of a man is this?” screenwriter Mr Moffat said.

“In researching the film and talking to those on the inside of this extraordinary story, I got the answers to all these questions. They’re provoking, often surprising, sometimes disturbing – and I think they make for a compelling story about power and abuse and journalistic courage.”

The film’s announcement will be a blow to the Queen and the royal family who, according to Palace sources, thought they had removed the “Andrew problem” from public life.

In fact, it was Prince Andrew’s disastrous performance during the interview that effectively convinced the Queen that his position as a working royal was untenable.

The interview was supposed to quiet gossip over Prince Andrew’s association with Epstein, but instead it was a PR disaster.

The royal was questioned over his links with Epstein and convicted sex abuser Ghislaine Maxwell, amid allegations he had sex with an underage girl, Virginia Roberts Giuffre.

Prince Andrew, Virginia Roberts Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell at Maxwell’s home in the early 2000s. Picture: Supplied

During the interview, Prince Andrew said he had “no recollection” of meeting Australian-based Ms Giuffre, now 38, who he is alleged to have had sex with at Maxwell’s house in London in the early 2000s. A photo of him with his arm around the then-teenage Ms Giuffre (with Maxwell in the background) has been widely shared.

Prince Andrew also claimed that he had not been at a nightclub with Ms Giuffre on a particular night because he was at a branch of UK restaurant chain Pizza Express with his daughters, plus asserted that claims he was “sweating profusely” on the night in question were not true because of a “peculiar medical condition” at the time that stopped him from sweating.

And despite Epstein’s earlier convictions and imprisonment for sex abuse with underage girls, Prince Andrew famously claimed that he had remained friends with Epstein because he was “too honourable”.

Emily Maitlis interviews Prince Andrew, Picture: BBC

Epstein took his own life in a New York jail cell in August 2019, just a month after he was arrested for sex trafficking minors.

A flood of horrific accounts of his abuse of young girls then followed.

Last month, Maxwell, the daughter of late media baron, Robert Maxwell, was jailed for 20 years for abusing and grooming dozens of underage girls for Epstein.

According to The Sun, the convicted sex trafficker and Prince Andrew would allegedly flirt with each other when they hung out together on Epstein’s notorious Caribbean island Little St James, a former housekeeper of Epstein’s has claimed.

After Maxwell’s sentence, Prince Andrew is said to be the lawyers’ “next target” of a probe into the sex ring controlled by Epstein.

Jeffrey Epstein took his only life in 2019 and Ghislaine is currently serving 20 years in a New York jail. Picture: AFP

Prince Andrew agreed to a financial settlement – reportedly in the multi-millions – with Ms Giuffre in February.

Spencer Kuvin, who has represented nine Epstein victims, reportedly told The Sun: “Anyone who took advantage of a minor as a result of being provided that minor by Mr Epstein or Ms Maxwell should be prosecuted as well.

“It is highly unlikely an extradition would ever occur, so the Prince would have to be here in the US and be arrested while he’s here.

“Tell Prince Andrew he should spend the summer here in the US. Come on over to vacation.”

However disgraced Andrew has no intention of helping the authorities with the investigation, a source has claimed.

In January 2020, Prince Andrew claimed he offered to help American prosecutors three times in their investigation into Epstein.

The royal has strongly denied the claims against him.

– with The Sun