Emily Maitlis reveals opinion on Prince Andrew’s innocence

Emily Maitlis has revealed more detail on her infamous interview with Prince Andrew - including her opinion on whether the disgraced royal is guilty.

Five years after the former Newsnight presenter sat down with the King’s brother, Maitlis has spoken out ahead of a three-part drama about the interview premiering next month.

Writing in The Times, she recalled telling Ruth Wilson, who is set to star as Maitlis in the upcoming series, about the months leading up to the interview.

She explained how the Newsnight deputy editor, Stewart Maclean, turned down the interview offer in May 2019, after the Prince demanded he wasn’t asked about Epstein.

She wrote they decided not to go ahead with the interview “precisely because he didn’t like the idea of there being red-line questions that were out of bounds”, which pushed Andrew to instead “slip away to an ITV interview instead”.

The interview did go ahead eventually however, as the Duke of York was compelled to take part following revelations about his friendship with convicted paedophile Jeffery Epstein.

However, Andrew famously made several blunders when being grilled by Maitlis and, following the Newsnight broadcast in November 2019, the duke stepped down from public life.

The journalist - who left the BBC in February 2022 and now works on Global’s The News Agents podcast – has now revealed her own opinion on whether she thinks the royal is guilty.

She recalls replying to Wilson’s question on the matter: “The speed of the question stops me. Ever since the interview, nearly five long years ago, it is one I have never articulated.

“I have had plenty of occasions — and more opportunity than most — to consider Andrew’s “guilt”, but the question has always struck me as imprecise. So I throw it back at Wilson. Guilty of what?

“And we begin to debate in earnest. I tell her there is no way I or anyone else will ever know the full truth of what happened with or to Virginia Giuffre, the trafficked Jeffrey Epstein victim who claims she was also abused by the royal,”

“But he was clearly guilty of other things — his continued friendship with Epstein after his arrest, his flat-footed response to the victims of sex trafficking.”

The journalist grilled Andrew over allegations that Epstein’s victim Virginia Giuffre was trafficked to have sex with the royal when she was 17 – still a minor under US law – during the Newsnight exclusive.

The duke denied he had sex with Ms Giuffre, adding he had no recollection of ever meeting her and that he had spent the day of the alleged meeting at a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking, Surrey, at a party with one of his daughters.

In one alleged encounter, Ms Giuffre claimed that Andrew had sweated heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp.

However, the duke denied this saying he could not sweat at the time due to a medical condition relating from his time serving in the Falklands War.

The series will be released on Amazon Prime on September 19.