Royal interviewer Emily Maitlis has spoken of her infamous scandalous interview with Prince Andrew and the aftermath which saw the Duke of York being stripped off his royal patronages and military ties.
The former BBC presenter recalled the unforgettable moment when the late Queen Elizabeth summoned her son after reading the disastrous interview transcript in which the disgraced royal failed to try and dissociate himself from paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
Andrew, who reportedly believed the interview had been a success, did not learn the truth of his mistakes until the next morning, former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed in a new documentary, the Mirror reports.
The Prince was 'euphoric' after the discussion which he felt had 'gone really well' and was reportedly shocked when he received a tap on his shoulder from his security guard to deliver the bad news.
Speaking of the incident in a new Channel 4 documentary, 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."
Following the public uproar of the Prince's disgraceful interview Andrew was stripped of his royal patronages and military ties but still denies any wrongdoing.
In February 2022, the Duke's legal team reached an out of court settlement which reportedly saw £12m paid out to Virginia Giuffre, who claimed Andrew raped her when she was 17-years-old. The Duke has always strongly denied these allegations.
In the new interview, Emily opened up about how 'shocked' she was by the awful responses he gave, describing it as a 'tidal wave of bad answers' and said she needed to process what had just happened.
She said: "This is how I know that Prince Andrew is happy with the interview because he stayed chatting. He seemed very jolly. 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.'"
During the catastrophic interview, Andrew refused to say whether or not he regretted his friendship with Epstein with some of his memorable answers including details of his visit to Pizza Express with daughter Princess Beatrice and revealing he was medically unable to sweat.
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