Prince Andrew, again, shows poor judgment as he follows in Diana’s footsteps with TV interview

Addressing seismic personal questions on camera shows poor judgment on the Prince’s part.

Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, in a BBC interview. Not since Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, went head-to-head in their soul-baring television interviews in the 1990s has a member of the royal family been asked to address such seismic personal questions on camera Picture: BBC

Prince Andrew’s decision to gamble his reputation - and potentially his future role within the British royal family - on an interview that he hopes will clear the air is a sensationally risky strategy.

It is particularly tricky for a member of the royal family who has rarely been afforded public adoration or sympathy.

Indeed, it is hard to see why he thinks the public - or, more importantly, Jeffrey Epstein’s victims - will be forgiving when he confesses that staying in the paedophile’s New York home had been the “honourable” thing to do. “My judgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable,” he claims.

READ MORE: Prince Andrews gives extraordinary interview over Jeffrey Epstein saga | Paedophile attends Beatrice’s party

How extraordinarily ill-judged for a senior royal, who can afford the most luxurious of accommodation, to say it was “a convenient place to stay” and, worse, to refuse to express regret for their friendship.

Hanging out with Epstein, says Andrew, brought some “very useful” opportunities his way. That is a bizarre thing for a member of the royal family - or anyone - to say about their acquaintance with a convicted sex offender.

What exactly the Duke of York is trying to achieve is equally hard to gauge, although Buckingham Palace attempted an answer by saying that he does not want the “unfounded allegations” to damage the charities with which he is associated. When the benefits of royal patronage come into question, things have really gone wrong.

Not since Prince Charles and Diana, Princess of Wales, went head-to-head in their soul-baring television interviews in the 1990s has a member of the royal family been asked to address such seismic personal questions on camera. But Charles and Diana both enjoyed far more public support than Andrew, even in their darkest hours.

Diana gave a groundbreaking interview to the BBC in 1995 Picture: News Corp

As the Epstein saga simmered, friends of Andrew’s have sought to paint a picture of his no-frills lifestyle, describing the prince, formerly known as “Randy Andy”, as a low-key teetotaller with a small group of friends, cohabiting amicably with his former wife at Royal Lodge in Windsor, focusing on charity work and support for young tech entrepreneurs.

Before the saga came to the boil last night (Saturday), it is an image of the Queen’s second son that might have endured. But his confirmation that he had attended a dinner party at Epstein’s New York house, had visited him several times at his Palm Beach mansion and entertained him at Windsor Castle and Sandringham will do nothing to quell the view of many people about his poor judgment.

It has long been suggested that the 93-year-old Queen dotes on Andrew as her favourite child and will forgive him for anything. Andrew admits the Epstein affair has been “a constant sore in the family” and the interview will have made excruciating viewing for his relatives.

It is a sore that will test the patience and forgiveness of his mother and his whole family to the very limits.

The Times