Virginia Giuffre reportedly furious over unaired BBC interview

The woman at the centre of the Prince Andrew interview, Virginia Giuffre, has reportedly given her own interview that has not yet gone to air.

The woman who says she was forced to sleep with Prince Andrew as a teenager has reportedly given an interview to the BBC’s Panorama program.

But the interview, in which Virginia Giuffre is said to reiterate her claims about the Duke of York, is still yet to air despite being filmed three weeks ago.

Prince Andrew has repeatedly denied having sex with Virginia Giuffre, then Virginia Roberts, when she said she was 17. He said he had “no recollection” of meeting her.

Sources close to the BBC show, which produces hour-long, in-depth investigative news reports, say the interview has not yet aired because it’s part of an ongoing probe.

A BBC spokesman said the network did not comment on “ongoing investigations”.

But Ms Giuffre is reportedly furious, with supporters suggesting it may have been held to avoid jeopardising the network’s interview with Prince Andrew that aired on BBC Newsnight on Saturday.

Virginia Giuffre spoke with 60 Minutes Australia earlier this year. Picture: 60 Minutes

She says she had sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17 years old. He has denied it. Picture: Jeenah Moon/Bloomberg

“She has made no bones about her thoughts on the Duke’s denial, and did not to ­Panorama. She has asked him to ‘come clean’, but she feels if anything he’s put more dirt in the water,” a source close to Ms Giuffre told The Mirror.

“Her legal team are at a loss as to why the interviews have not been broadcast … During her interview, she was asked why she thought Andrew had remained silent. Of course that now is no longer the case,”

Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis said the interview with Prince Andrew had been in negotiations for 12 months, however the final approval was given just days before it was recorded, on Thursday last week.

PRINCE QUITS ROYAL DUTIES

Prince Andrew has stepped down from his royal duties amid growing backlash over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

“It has become clear to me over the last few days that the circumstances relating to my former association with Jeffrey Epstein has become a major disruption to my family’s work and the valuable work going on in the many organisations and charities that I am proud to support,” he said in a statement issued today by Buckingham Palace.

“Therefore, I have asked Her Majesty if I may step back from public duties for the foreseeable future, and she has given her permission.

“I continue to unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein. His suicide has left many unanswered questions, particularly for his victims, and I deeply sympathise with everyone who has been affected and wants some form of closure.”

Ms Giuffre is one of 16 women who alleges she was abused by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, who committed suicide in a New York jail cell in August while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.

She alleges she met Prince Andrew in 2001 when she was just 17 and dined and danced with him at a nightclub in London before having sex with him at a house in Belgravia, owned by British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell. She also alleges they had sex on two further occasions, in the US and the Caribbean.

The Duke has repeatedly denied the pair have had any sexual conduct and he has ever done anything untoward. In the Newsnight interview, he said he had no recollection of ever meeting Ms Giuffre or having his photograph taken with her.

“I don’t remember meeting her at all. I do not remember the photograph being taken and I’ve said consistently and frequently that we never had any sexual contact whatever,” he told Newsnight.

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Prince Andrew said it was not ‘becoming of a member of the Royal Family’ to continue his friendship with Epstein. Picture: BBC

He also said he ‘let the side down’ by staying at Epstein’s home. Source: BBC

LETTER THROWS DATES INTO CONFUSION

Meanwhile the accounts of former staffers have thrown Prince Andrew’s timelines into confusion.

An unnamed former aide to the Duke told the Telegraph that there were “gaps” in Prince Andrew’s royal schedule when he travelled to Boston and New York in 2001. However the aide also said they were convinced Prince Andrew is innocent. Prince Andrew has denied having sex with Ms Giuffre or noticing anything suspicious in Epstein’s properties.

“The Duke is absolutely not capable of this, Epstein is clearly horrible but I’m confident (of the Duke’s innocence). It’s inconceivable,” the source reportedly said.

A letter to The Times written by Alastair Watson, the private secretary to the Duke of York in 2011 has also thrown claims the Duke met Epstein in 1999 into doubt.

The letter was first written in March 2011 and said: “The Duke has known Mr Epstein since being introduced to him in the early 1990s. The insinuations and innuendos that have been made in relation to the Duke are without foundation.”

In the Newsnight interview, Prince Andrew said he met Epstein through Epstein’s girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, in 1999.

“I’d known her since she was at university in the UK and it would be, to some extent, a stretch to say that as it were we were close friends. I mean we were friends because of other people and I had a lot of opportunity to go to the United States but I didn’t have much time with him,” he said.

UNIVERSITIES CUT TIES WITH ROYAL

The interview has been widely described as a PR disaster for the royal and the fallout has now extended Down Under.

Three Australian universities have announced they’re severing ties with the Duke’s Pitch@Palace program, which he travelled across the country to support earlier this year.

Murdoch University, RMIT and Bond University have each said they will not be continuing the program, which is designed to help young entrepreneurs connect with potential investors.

Prince Andrew visited Bond University on the Gold Coast to support the Pitch@Palace program. Picture: Supplied

The program aims to encourage and support entrepreneurship in Australia. Picture: Paul Kane/Getty Images

“Murdoch University has today advised Buckingham Palace it would not continue its participation in Pitch@Palace in 2020,” a statement from Murdoch University said on Wednesday.

“We remain committed to supporting innovators and entrepreneurs. However in the current circumstances we have decided that our efforts in this area are best served through other means,” it added.

Bond University said it also would not be seeking any further involvement with the program “in light of recent events”.

RMIT said its involvement with Pitch@Palace concluded in October 2019.