Queen knew Andrew’s BBC interview was a disaster before he did

Emily Maitlis, whose interview led to Andrew stepping down from royal duties, says the Queen became aware of the implications before it was broadcast.

BBC Newsnight's Emily Maitlis interviews Prince Andrew over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. Source: BBC

The late Queen realised that the Duke of York’s Newsnight interview was a disaster before it dawned on Prince Andrew, Emily Maitlis said.

Maitlis, whose 2019 interview with the duke led to him stepping down from royal duties, said the Queen became aware of the implications even before the interview was broadcast. She makes the claim in a Channel 4 documentary about Prince Andrew. A friend of the duke’s, a media lawyer, reveals how he tried to talk Andrew out of doing the interview.

In Andrew: The Problem Prince, Maitlis describes her shock at some of the things Andrew said when he was questioned about a claim by Virginia Giuffre that she was coerced into having sex with him.

They included the duke’s assertion that Giuffre’s description of him looking sweaty in a nightclub was untrue because he did not sweat.

After the interview was finished, two days before its broadcast on Saturday, November 16, the duke seemed to think it had gone well. Maitlis and the producer, Sam McAlister, were even invited to stay on for a palace film night.

Maitlis said: “This is how I know that Prince Andrew is happy with the interview because he stayed chatting. He seemed very jolly.”

McAlister said: “It should have been that we, the journalists, were euphoric and he was depressed and downfallen. But it was the opposite. He looked euphoric.”

Maitlis added: “A whole load of people came in and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘OK, Thursday evenings we have the cinema night at the palace. You can stay if you want.’ And at that point, I just thought, ‘I’ve got to get away from here. I needed the space to work out what just happened.’”

Maitlis said that by the time the interview was broadcast, the Queen appeared to have realised how disastrous it had been. She said: “It was only on the Saturday when the Queen had reportedly read the whole transcript that he had received a tap on the shoulder by his security detail. And they had said, ‘I think, sir, you might have to come with us.’ It was after the Queen had seen what the interview contained that I think it dawned on her, before it dawned on him.”

In the two-part documentary, the Northern Irish defamation lawyer Paul Tweed, a friend of the prince, describes how when he first heard that Andrew was considering doing an interview, he tried to talk him out of it.

Queen Elizabeth and her son Prince Andrew.

“I said, ‘Look, that would not be a good idea, sir.’ Because at this stage, don’t forget, there was still the prospect of going into court, fighting to clear his name.” Later he received a phone call from Amanda Thirsk, the duke’s private secretary.

Tweed said: “Amanda called me … she would have been very loyal, very protective.” He added: “She just said, ‘I’m just letting you know the duke has decided to do the Newsnight interview.’

“I said, ‘Is he mad? Absolutely no way, no, no, no. That’s a bad idea. You should not do it,’ and Amanda just said, ‘Look Paul, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later.’ And the phone was put down abruptly and that was it.”

Last year Andrew reached an out-of-court settlement with Giuffre allegedly worth up to dollars 12 million following her civil sex claim against him in America.

He denies any wrongdoing.

The first part of the documentary is to be broadcast on Monday at 9pm.

Press AssociationMaitlis said that the late Queen had seen what the interview contained by the day of the broadcast, and realised its ramifications

The Times