‘Secrets of Prince Andrew’: BBC Journalist Says She Didn’t Set Out ‘Ruin’ the Life of Controversial Royal
It was the interview that shook the royal family to its core. Prince Andrew imagined that his November 2019 sit down with BBC Newsnight would help rehabilitate his tarnished image and explain his problematic association with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Instead, the one-hour interview resulted in widespread condemnation of his behavior and ultimately forced the palace to remove him from his official duties.
How did the man who was once second in line to the throne end up in such a disastrous situation? It was a crisis of his own making, according to royal experts and palace insiders interviewed in the new documentary, Secrets of Prince Andrew, airing August 21 on A&E.
Prince Andrew was the ‘queen’s favorite’
Andrew was the U.K.’s playboy prince. The second son of Queen Elizabeth II, he’d grown up spoiled and indulged, especially compared to his elder brother Charles, who was groomed to be king.
“The queen adored him more than anybody else,” says journalist Annette Witheride of Andrew. “He was the queen’s favorite.”
After a privileged childhood and youthful exploits that earned him the nickname “Randy Andy,” Andrew seemed to settle down by the 1980s. But experts interviewed in the documentary say that despite a distinguished career in the Royal Navy and marriage to Sarah Ferguson, he never really grew up. And although he had a generous allowance from his mother, Andrew’s jet-setting lifestyle exceeded his means. At some point in the 1990s, he fell into the orbit of shady financier Jeffrey Epstein and Epstein’s close friend Ghislaine Maxwell. That proved to be his undoing.
Prince Andrew’s friends urged him not to do the BBC interview
In 2015, a woman named Virginia Giuffre alleged that Prince Andrew had raped her in 2001, after the two had been introduced by Epstein and Maxwell. Giuffre was 17 at the time. But the accusations against the prince didn’t garner widespread attention until 2019, when Epstein was arrested on sex trafficking charges. (Epstein died by suicide a month later.) At that point, Andrew decided he needed to speak out and defend himself. So, when the opportunity to do the BBC interview presented itself, he unwisely agreed.
Andrew had no idea what he was getting into, BBC producer Sam McAlister recalls in the doc.
“He wanted to control the narrative,” she says. “Imagine you’ve spent 59 years with everyone blowing smoke up you, telling you you’re incredible, you’re amazing. They never contradict you. He’s never had somebody say the word no.”
Andrew was convinced he’d be able to clear his name in the interview. But those close to him worried he underestimated the risk. Lawyer and friend Paul Tweed warned the “trusting” and “naive” prince that talking to the BBC was not “a good idea.” But Andrew disagreed.
“Because he believed he had not been guilty of any inappropriate conduct, he felt that he could explain that position … I told him absolutely not. Don’t do it,” Tweed says.
BBC journalist Emily Maitlis said her goal wasn’t to destroy the prince’s reputation
Despite the warnings, Andrew agreed to talk with Emily Maitlis, one of the BBC’s most respected interviewers. She wasn’t interested in doing a puff piece. Instead, she wanted to get to the bottom of the royal’s association with Epstein, she says in Secrets of Prince Andrew. She knew the interview had the potential to be explosive.
“I knew if he said yes, it would be the most extraordinary piece of television I’d ever made,” Maitlis says.
After getting the OK from the queen, Andrew sat down for the interview at Buckingham Palace. The prince’s responses to their questions stunned Maitlis and the BBC team. He didn’t express any regret for his friendship with Epstein, said he didn’t remember meeting Giuffre (even though there was a photo of them together), and offered a weak excuse for why he’d spent several days staying at Epstein’s New York mansion after he was released from prison in 2009.
Shockingly, Andrew was at first under the impression that the interview had gone well. But once it aired, the damage was clear. Soon after, he stepped back from his royal duties. After Giuffre filed a civil suit against him in 2022, the queen stripped him of all his royal titles. And now that Charles is king, his role within the royal family is even further diminished.
Maitlis wanted to expose the truth about Andrew’s involvement with Epstein. But she didn’t set out to destroy the prince. He managed to do that on his own.
“He lost a lot from doing that interview,” she says. “My intention was not to ruin his life. That was not on my radar.”
Secrets of Prince Andrew premieres Monday, August 21 at 8 p.m. ET on A&E. It will be available to stream the next day on demand and to stream on the A&E App and AETV.com.
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