Duke of York looks desperate and unconvincing in Newsnight interview
The Duke of York has come under tremendous pressure to explain the nature of his relationship with the disgraced financier and convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
In a hard-hitting interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, Prince Andrew tried hard to minimize the significance of his connection to the convicted sex offender.
Epstein was convicted of procuring an underage girl for prostitution in 2008. He was re-arrested for additional sex offences involving minors in July 2019. Epstein avoided justice by committing suicide the following month.
At some points in the interview Prince Andrew appeared to be failing to hide his arrogance. He even claimed that maintaining links with Epstein following his 2008 conviction for sex crimes was the “honourable and right thing to do”.
Prince Andrew, who is the Queen’s third child, was photographed walking with Epstein in New York’s Central Park in 2010. He stayed at Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in the same year.
When pressed by Maitlis as to why he had stayed at the house of a man convicted of child sex crimes, Prince Andrew would only say that it [Epstein’s mansion] was a “convenient” place to stay.
Prince Andrew shrugged off accusations by one of Epstein’s victims, Virginia Robert-Giuffre, that he had had sex with her in a toilet in 2001 when she was aged just 17.
“I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever”, Prince Andrew replied unconvincingly.
Even the BBC’s Royal correspondent, Jonny Dymond, finds the Prince’s answer to the Robert-Giuffre accusation unconvincing, noting that it is “odd” as for years the Palace had issued a “straightforward denial” that the Prince had any sexual contact with her.
There are additional accusations against Prince Andrew, notably from Johanna Sjoberg, who claims that the Prince touched her inappropriately while they were seated on a couch in Epstein’s Manhattan apartment in 2001.
The interviewer, the veteran BBC journalist Emily Maitlis, claims it has taken “many months” to secure the interview as the entire process needed the Queen’s “approval”.
Prince Andrew’s long and extensive involvement with the convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein, is widely viewed as a big blow to the morale and prestige of the British royal family, and specifically to the Queen.
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