Prince Andrew has gone from a once-beloved member of The Royal Family to a disgrace. The Duke of York was at the center of controversy when his association with sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein became public knowledge. In 2019, the prince did an interview with Newsnight in hopes of clearing his name. But it did more harm than good.
After Andrew’s interview aired, it received negative reactions from the press and the public. The Duke must’ve sensed his sitdown with host Emily Maitlis didn’t go well and wanted to make some changes.
During a recent appearance on Good Morning Britain, Maitlis revealed Andrew tried to tamper with his interview after it was taped.
He asked for certain extra bits to be recorded and one of the things that we found quite complicated was the dilemma as a journalist if somebody asks you to drop something in is that it, you know…are you tampering with it? Or are you, you know…you’re disturbing the chronology of the hour that you’ve just recorded.
The journalist also said it felt like the Duke had rehearsed everything before their sit-down interview. “I thought that he had tried very hard to remember his lines.”
Prince Andrew’s Newsnight Interview is the Subject of a New Miniseries
The infamous Newsnight interview is now the subject of an Amazon Prime miniseries. A Very Royal Scandal stars Michael Sheen as Prince Andrew and Ruth Wilson as Emily Maitlis.
Maitlis serves as executive producer on the series, which explores the behind-the-scenes secrets from their interview. The show, which premiers on September 19, is already generating buzz. One chilling scene has Andrew asking Maitlis and her staff, “Have any of you ever been victims of abuse?“
After Andrew’s disastrous interview, the disgraced prince faced further fallout. He resigned from his royal duties and was stripped of most of his privileges. He’s since then withdrawn from public life and is on the outs with his family. While he maintains a close relationship with his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson and their daughters Beatrice and Eugenie; he’s estranged from his brother King Charles.
Maitlis says she does have some concern for the embattled prince. “I feel concern for him as I do for anyone that has had a drop in status,” she tells Good Morning Britain. “But I don’t regret the interview.“
