Prince Andrew ‘wants to do another TV interview’: Duke of York is considering tell-all chat with US broadcaster despite disastrous fall-out from his Emily Maitlis Newsnight grilling in 2019
- Sources close to Andrew claim ‘nothing is off the table’ with ‘little else to lose’
- He is allegedly favouring a US broadcaster due to Prince Harry’s recent publicity
Disgraced Prince Andrew is warming to the idea of another TV interview despite his disastrous Newsnight grilling in 2019 and sex abuse scandal, it has been reported.
A second tell-all chat with the Duke of York could be on the cards, as sources claimed that ‘nothing is off the table’ amid fears that he could soon lose his royal home.
The Duke allegedly told friends that he may have a chance of redemption and desires to tell ‘his side’ of the events that cost him his royal title.
‘He feels there is little else to lose when he has already paid an awfully high price,’ a source close to him told The Mirror.
It was also added that the interviews surrounding Prince Harry’s explosive memoir Spare have encouraged the Duke to favour a US broadcaster.
Prince Andrew spoke with Emily Maitlis on BBC Newsnight in 2019 about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein
Emily Maitlis spoke with Prince Andrew during a televised interview in 2019 which focused on his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Duke profusely denied claims he had sex with then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre who alleged she was forced to have sex with him three times when under Epstein’s orders.
Numerous other claims were made during the interview, with the Prince adding that he could not have been with Ms Giuffre at the time of an incident given that he was dining at Pizza Express in Woking.
The Duke also added that he had medical condition which left him unable to sweat, following allegations that he heavily sweated while dancing with Ms Giuffre at a nightclub.
Despite being widely regarded as a car crash, Emily Maitlis previously claimed that the Duke of York seemed ‘happy’ after filming the Newsnight programme.
‘It wasn’t an attempt to bring down the royals, just a chance to understand the story,’ she told Radio Times.
Although Prince Andrew denied abusing Ms Giuffre, last year he paid her a reported £12million in an out-of-court settlement.
Emily Maitlis claimed that the statement within this settlement appeared to contradict the answers given during his infamous Newsnight interview.
During the interview, the Duke profusely denied claims he had sex with then 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre who alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times when under Epstein’s orders
Virginia Roberts claims to have had sex with Andrew ‘three times, including one orgy’, with the first encounter allegedly taking place in Ms Maxwell’s London townhouse after they met at the Tramp nightclub on March 10. Recalling the alleged meeting, Andrew was said to be ‘sweating profusely’
Writing for the BBC, she said: ‘At the heart of the settlement is the biggest question of all: why is a Prince who told me he had “no recollection of ever meeting this lady” now paying her what we understand to be upwards of £10m?
‘I distinctly remember putting Virginia Giuffre’s accusations to him directly: “She says she met you in 2001, she dined with you, danced with you, you bought her drinks in Tramp nightclub and she went on to have sex with you in a house in Belgravia.”
‘And I have the Prince’s reply in front of me now. Three words only: ‘It didn’t happen.’
‘There are only three possible explanations then for the settlement: either he was lying in that response – and remembered her well; or he genuinely had no recollection – and was adamant they hadn’t met – only for his memory subsequently to be jogged; or that he maintains his innocence, but feels the weight of legal and public opinion against him now make settling the easier option, albeit without accepting any liability.’
Now it is claimed that the Duke of York is set to lose £250,000-a-year in funding from the King as part of a shake-up of private royal finances, with his 30-room Royal Lodge on the line.
He has also had to sell off assets including a £19million ski chalet to cover the costs of settling the sex scandal case with Ms Giuffre.
It is understood that Prince Andrew has since been offered Harry and Meghan’s Frogmore Cottage as an alternative home but is refusing to take it.
Buckingham Palace have declined to comment.