Maitlis says Andrew 'lost respect' after interview

Emily Maitlis says the Duke of York "lost respect" aft her infamous Newsnight interrogation with him, but warned that Jeffrey Epstein's victims didn't get closure.

"I deliberation determination is unfinished business," the writer told BBC News. "It isn't immoderate nice, neat ending."

The 2019 interview, widely viewed arsenic a "car-crash", saw Prince Andrew speech candidly to Maitlis astir his relationship with convicted enactment offender Epstein.

It is present the taxable of a caller three-part drama, A Very Royal Scandal, starring Ruth Wilson arsenic Maitlis and Michael Sheen arsenic Andrew.

The BBC interrogation did immense harm to Andrew's estimation and is seen by galore arsenic greatly contributing to his downfall.

Days aft it, the duke announced helium was stepping backmost from royal duties, saying the Epstein ungraded had go a "major disruption" to the Royal Family.

Maitlis was speaking to maine alongside Wilson successful the Ham Yard Hotel successful cardinal London, not acold from wherever Newsnight is made successful the corporation's Broadcasting House.

Her interview, which made headlines astir the world, aired connected a peculiar Saturday evening variation of the programme successful 2019.

It saw Prince Andrew sermon his links to Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, the socialite present serving clip successful situation for helping Epstein maltreatment girls.

Andrew utilized the interrogation to emphatically contradict having enactment with past 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre, saying helium was successful Pizza Express successful Woking connected the time the brushwood was meant to person taken place.

The duke has subsequently paid a fiscal colony to Ms Giuffre, formally ending a civilian lawsuit brought against him successful the US.

The out-of-court colony accepted nary liability and Prince Andrew has ever powerfully rejected claims of wrongdoing.

On Monday, it was reported that the duke volition person to pay his ain costs if helium wants to enactment successful the Royal Lodge mansion successful Windsor.

When reflecting connected the interaction of the interview, Maitlis said that successful immoderate ways, "everything changed".

"Prince Andrew, helium mislaid his royal duties, helium mislaid the quality to deterioration uniform, helium mislaid the respect of the nation, and it became, I think, overmuch much hard for him successful his spot successful the Royal Family," she said.

"And connected the different side, we don't cognize if Epstein's victims gained thing from that. We don't cognize if their lives materially changed," she added.

"There's been nary trial. There's been a settlement... but we haven't had that consciousness of closure there," she said.

She said that she sometimes wondered whether it was "anything much than a moment".

"Can you ever bash thing much arsenic a writer than conscionable inquire the questions, and past spot what changes arsenic a result?," she asked.

She said that's wherefore the 3rd occurrence of the caller bid - which focuses connected consequences - is truthful important.

"It is astir reckoning. It is astir fallout. But it isn't immoderate nice, neat ending with a drama villain oregon a benignant of swashbuckling hero. It doesn't extremity neatly."

Maitlis besides revealed that a period aft her interrogation successful November 2019, she was "pulled aside" by idiosyncratic adjacent to King Charles, who was astatine the clip the Prince of Wales.

She said the idiosyncratic simply said: "HRH was not unhappy with the interview."

BBC News has been incapable to verify these comments. But Maitlis says she spent years "trying to puzzle out" what the words meant.

She speculated it could person meant that Charles didn't "blame" her for the interview. "You're not going disconnected to the Tower," she said.

"Or it mightiness person meant that successful immoderate way, that it was not unhelpful for a reset betwixt the Royal Family and the British public."

Maitlis said that erstwhile you look astatine the signifier of the monarchy since then, it is "more slimmed down".

"I retrieve the Queen's code that Christmas - connected the piano, determination were lone a fewer photographs, and the consciousness was that determination had been a shift," she said.

"And truthful I benignant of deliberation backmost to those words that I heard in, you know, December 2019, and deliberation I wonderment if that was the opening of the reset."

In the series, Wilson wore a wig and bluish interaction lenses successful bid to look similar Maitlis.

The histrion said it was "absolutely wonderful" playing Maitlis, adding: "I got to beryllium blonde, and blondes bash person much fun. I loved it."

She recruited a dependable coach, and besides a question coach, and studied Maitlis "intensely" - including successful the workplace - to effort and get into character.

"I loved getting progressive and seeing down the scenes of however that satellite works. That's what drew maine to the task successful the archetypal place," she said.

Maitlis, meanwhile, said Wilson had managed to seizure her "impatience", including the mode she eats sandwiches successful a hurry.

"And she enactment a benignant of drama into the question which I had," she said.

"I wouldn't recognise it myself, but I abruptly saw it done Ruth and thought it's true. I'm ever spilling things. I'm ever dropping things. I've ever overstuffed a handbag.

"There is benignant of a definite magnitude of chaos, I think, to my off-screen beingness that Ruth had conscionable watched and seamlessly injected without ever having to accidental it. And so, it was remarkable, actually."

The Amazon Prime bid comes conscionable months aft a rival dramatisation of the 2019 Newsnight interview, Scoop, was released connected Netflix.

That mentation starred Rufus Sewell arsenic Prince Andrew, Gillian Anderson arsenic Emily Maitlis and Billie Piper arsenic shaper Sam McAlister.

But whereas Scoop focused connected the portion played by McAlister successful securing the interview, A Very Royal Scandal is centred connected Maitlis's ain relation successful the process.

Maitlis, who is enforcement shaper for the caller series, is diplomatic erstwhile asked astir McAlister's version, insisting "they're precise antithetic beasts".

But she said determination were elements successful Scoop that she didn't recognise, including scenes which showed her and her grey whippet Moody successful the office.

"I'm truly atrocious to disappoint," she said. "In my cleanable world, obviously, dogs would beryllium everywhere, but Moody has ne'er been successful the Newsnight studio."

But adjacent Maitlis's mentation took originative liberties.

She pointed retired 1 country successful which her on-screen hubby is heard snoring portion she types furiously connected her telephone adjacent to him.

"There was nary snoring, I person to say, successful my matrimony or, you know, successful the bedroom," she notes.

The full Newsnight interrogation tin inactive be easy watched online.

Which begs the question: Do we request a dramatisation, oregon so two, if you tin conscionable ticker the existent thing?

"The interrogation was 1 hour, successful 1 moment, successful 1 day, successful 1 year," Maitlis said.

"And [the drama] is really an accumulation of consequences and results and fallout that we're lone conscionable managing to understand.

"Now, I inactive deliberation that the communicative itself isn't really finished, but this is the nearest you'll get to benignant of understanding, I guess, the opening of it, and conscionable what it did to each of us."

A Very Royal Scandal is retired connected Prime Video connected 19 September.