TV host opens up about disastrous Prince Andrew interview that led to his downfall

The BBC journalist who sat down with Prince Andrew in 2019 for his infamous “car crash” Newsnight interview has opened up in regards to the aftermath of his revelations.

Emily Maitlis, 52, probed the Duke of York, 63, on his alleged friendship with disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, over which he has lengthy been scrutinized.

And the scandal-scarred royal’s responses through the hour-long particular finally led to his fall from grace, leading to his late mom, Queen Elizabeth II., stripping him of his royal and military honors.

Maitlis, nonetheless, claimed she by no means meant to “spoil his life” together with her questions and stays “proud” of the way it performed out.

“I knew I needed to do an interview that may maintain up in a courtroom of legislation as soon as we had the prospect there couldn’t be a misstep,” Maitlis told The Mirror. “It felt like a trial.”

Maitlis mentioned the sit-down particular “modified [Andrew’s] life extra profoundly than he’d ever anticipated.”

“He misplaced quite a bit from doing that interview,” she advised the publication. “My intention was to not spoil his life. That was not on my radar. I’m actually pleased with the interview itself really.”

“I’m pleased with the crew, of what we did, how we bought it and what we placed on air,” she added.

And despite the fact that the blowback from the interview was severely damaging to Andrew, Maitlis defended his resolution to talk out.

“Andrew is a giant presence. He’s a giant chap and has a really kind of booming deep voice and really charming, and he was assured of what he had,” she advised the outlet.

“It is a man who thought he was harmless of all the allegations about having trafficked intercourse, having befriended a pedophile, and he needed to persuade the world that he was harmless. However I do perceive that one of many many difficulties with being royal is you don’t get that proper of reply.”

“You don’t get to tweet out if you happen to don’t like a narrative. So I may see why he would wish to speak to us. I knew that in the event that they mentioned sure, it might be essentially the most extraordinary piece of tv that I’d ever made and probably that he had too,” she added.

Andrew, who was barred from utilizing his HRH (“His Royal Highness”) moniker following his affiliation with Epstein, additionally misplaced his patronages final 12 months.

Whereas Andrew remains to be a Royal Knight of the Garter and a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order, he was told face-to-face by his mother that he would now not be referred to as His Royal Highness.

The monarch, who was 96 when she died in September, broke the information to the daddy of two at Windsor Citadel in January final 12 months. That very same month, she additionally took away his navy titles.

The retraction of Andrew’s official royal labels got here amid his sexual assault case filed by Virginia Giuffre, who has lengthy claimed that Epstein made her have “disgusting” sex with the royal thrice, beginning in 2001 when she was simply 17.

Andrew’s legal professionals say he “unequivocally denies Giuffre’s false allegations towards him.” He settled the case out of courtroom for an undisclosed sum final February.

Most lately, Andrew has been chucked out of Buckingham Palace by his monarch brother, King Charles.