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Emily Maitlis claimed that King Charles “was not unhappy” with Prince Andrew’s disastrous 2019 interview with Newsnight.
The Duke of York, now 64, sat down with the seasoned interviewer to explain why he continued to associate with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein after he had pleaded guilty to trafficking minors.
Describing Mr Epstein’s actions as “unbecoming”, Andrew said he met with him in New York’s Central Park upon his release from prison in 2010 to end their friendship, describing it as “the right and honourable thing to do”.
The royal addressed allegations that he slept with the then-underaged alleged human trafficking victim Virginia Giuffre, who launched a lawsuit against him.
The case was ultimately settled out of court in 2022 for a significant sum, despite Andrew’s insistence that he has never even met his accuser and insistence of no wrongdoing upon settlement.
In the controversial interview, Andrew attempted to defend himself with several claims, including, famously, that he could not have been with Ms Giuffre at Mr Epstein’s property on the night they were seemingly photographed together as he was taking his daughter to a birthday party at a Pizza Express in Woking.
Andrew claimed he has a rare condition that has left him unable to sweat and that Ms Giuffre’s claim that he was “sweating profusely” when they met at Tramps’ nightclub in 2001 in London could not have been true.
Ahead of the release of a new dramatisation of the now-notorious interview and its impact, A Very Royal Scandal, Ms Maitlis said that even after the footage aired, the then Prince Charles was “not unhappy” about its content.
Following the interview and the widespread public backlash it caused, the Duke of York was forced to step down as a working royal.
Ms Matlis told the Radio Times: “Stripped of royal titles, a job, and a wider sense of any public role, you could argue that everything stopped for him after the public reaction to the Newsnight interview.
The broadcaster added: “While the prince is grappling with a world that has suddenly spun out of his control – where he is being overmanaged by PR teams, with ever-more frustrating results – the journalists are asking themselves if they’ve achieved anything more than a ‘meme moment’. There is no trial, no extradition, no apology and no closure.
“One month after the interview aired, I was taken aside by someone close to [then] Prince Charles and told — somewhat cryptically — that ‘HRH was not unhappy with the interview’. The comment stunned me. In the years since, I have returned to that one line so many times in my head, trying to fathom the meaning in the message.”
The new three-part docudrama will “demonstrate the power of journalism through a pivotal moment in British history”, according to the Express. The BBC was not involved in its production.
Its leading cast members will include Michael Sheen, who previously starred in The Queen, as Prince Andrew, and The Affair’s Ruth Wilson as Emily Maitlist.
Meanwhile, Downton Abbey’s Clare Calbraith will step into journalist Sam McAllister’s shoes.
A Very Royal Scandal is set to be released on Prime Video on 19 September.
The Independent has approached Buckingham Palace for comment.
