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How Andrew’s top aide persuaded him to face the music
The morning after the night before. Prince Andrew today faces a tsunami of criticism over his disastrous BBC interview, which only succeeded in making him look like a dissembling, arrogant prig and did nothing to clear his name. So why did Andrew, not known for his intelligence, decide to go toe to toe with one of Britain’s toughest TV interviewers, Emily Maitlis?
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Sky News this morning said that Andrew’s PR adviser Jason Stein resigned over the decision to agree to the interview with the BBC, and it seems Andrew had his reservations too.
The Telegraph claims that Prince Andrew told his team just weeks ago that he was “not doing Newsnight,” but ultimately agreed at the urging of his senior aide, Amanda Thirsk.
The Telegraph says that it was Thirsk, his private secretary, who argued that an interview with a tough female interviewer would help restore his battered reputation.
A source told the paper: “The Duke was concerned that he was on the back foot and Amanda said that she wanted him to do an interview with Newsnight. He said, “I’m not doing Newsnight.” Andrew is said to have been worried an interview would leave him “terribly exposed,” while other aides (presciently) warned it was a “bad idea.”
The Telegraph says that other advisers urged Andrew to do a newspaper interview instead, so his remarks were published “all in one chunk” rather than released “in pieces” in the run-up to the broadcast of the full interview.
Another intriguing theory circulating today suggests that Andrew did the big interview to try and clear the air ahead of his daughter Beatrice’s wedding next year.
Well, that didn’t work out so well, did it?
There is also a great deal of speculation that Andrew is afraid the process might be shortly taken out of his hands. Andrew seemed ready for the question of whether or not he would agree to testify under oath if called to: he instead that to do so would be his duty.
Just say no
As any media trainer will tell you, one of the hardest things to do is to get someone who is used to the sound of their own voice reverberating through the halls of power to understand that in a media interview, less is more.
There were so many moments in the interview when all Andrew had to do was give a one word answer and shut up, but he launched into damaging rambles and justifications.
For example, when he was asked if he believed that his friend, the disgraced pedophile billionaire financier Jeffrey Epstein, may not have actually committed suicide, instead of just saying “No,” he appeared to ponder the details of a discredited conspiracy theory put about by Epstein’s brother claiming that the autopsy shows he may have been the victim of a jailhouse murder, before ultimately saying he accepted the official verdict.
There was also a spoon-fed opportunity to say “Yes” when he was asked if he regretted becoming friends with Epstein. Incredibly he said that he “still” did not regret the friendship, because he’d met some jolly interesting people through him and, because, “the opportunities that I was given to learn either by him or because of him were actually very useful.”
He was offered a second opportunity to disavow his friendship with Epstein and again he did not, replying: “As far as Mr Epstein was concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010. As far as my association with him was concerned, it had some seriously beneficial outcomes in areas that have nothing and have nothing to do with what I would describe as what we’re talking about today.”
Great pizza, no sweat
The standout moments of Andrew’s interview were his claim that the Falklands War had left him with a curious sweating-related condition; and his pizza alibi (he said he was there at about 4pm or 5pm on the day Virginia Roberts Giuffre said they had sex, which hardly rules out a late-night visit to Tramp). Now the Woking branch of Pizza Express, where Andrew claims to have been, has been hit with a rash of spoof reviews combining these meme-worthy assertions.
One new Trip Advisor review says: “I enjoyed a meal here with my family back on the 10th of March 2001. It was a memorable meal as I can still remember the exact date and occasion, some 18 years on. The American Hot was lovely.”
Another says, “Wonderful staff, great food, no sweat.”
Royal fashion watch
Kate Middleton does business-like daywear… this week she wore a Smythe blazer in Prince of Wales check and a pair of burgundy Joseph trousers when she and William met volunteers at the mental health charity Shout.
This week in royal history
On November 20, 1995, in an unprecedented interview, Princess Diana told Martin Bashir on BBC’s Panorama that there were “three people” in her marriage to Prince Charles, meaning Camilla Parker Bowles. The explosive documentary further cemented public support of Diana. How strange that another royal TV interview subject should choose this week to make his own headlines.
Business as usual
Elsewhere, royal news of a gentler nature continues. The Mail reports that the Victor Edelstein dress that Princess Diana wore to dance with John Travolta in 1985 at the White House is going up for auction in London, with a guide price of $452,000. Prince Charles and Camilla have arrived in New Zealand to start their royal tour there. And Catherine Quinn, Kate Middleton’s top aide, has quit, although palace spinners have been keen to emphasize that it is an amicable split.
Unanswered questions
At the beginning of the week, it was all about Harry and Meghan. They have said they won’t be at Sandringham but just where will Harry and Meghan spend Christmas—elsewhere in Britain or with Meghan’s mom in California? The feud between Harry and William appears as insoluble as ever. But after last night’s disastrous BBC interview, all eyes now turn to Prince Andrew again, and whether the nature of his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein will become a police matter.
