Prince Andrew has been spotted driving to Windsor Castle just days before his brother King Charles’s coronation.
The 63-year-old Duke of York drove his Range Rover to the royal residence on Friday afternoon.
He appeared just days before the king is due to be formally crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 6, as final preparations are made in the historic cathedral.
It comes after former BBC presenter Emily Maitlis opened the lid on his disastrous Newsnight interview.
The 63-year-old Duke of York drove his Range Rover to the royal residence on Friday afternoon
Prince Andrew was spotted driving to Windsor Castle just days before his brother’s coronation
The late Queen realized Prince Andrew’s interview on Newsnight was a disaster before he did, it is alleged.
Ms Maitlis revealed that the monarch had been given a transcript of the Duke of York’s appearance on the BBC’s premier news program asking him about his association with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.
Shortly afterwards, the Duke, who was said to be ‘euphoric’ after the interview which he said had gone ‘really well’, was apparently tapped on the shoulder by his security detail and led away.
Andrew came under intense scrutiny following his disastrous 2019 interview, which addressed allegations that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre was trafficked into having sex with the royal family when she was 17.
In the new two-part Channel 4 documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, Ms Maitlis said the negative implications of the interview ‘dawned’ at the Queen ‘before they got through to him’.
The interview was the perfect gift for Virginia Giuffre because it contained “so many demonstrably false things,” her attorney said.
Attorney Sigrid McCawley said the Duke of York’s series of blunders and bizarre defense of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in the 2019 interview gave them a “road map to tear him apart.”
Within two years, the Queen had stripped him of his military ties, royal patronage and use of his HRH title and settled a civil lawsuit brought by Mrs Giuffre for reportedly £12 million ($16.3 million).
In the documentary, Sigrid McCawley, a member of Ms Giuffre’s legal team, told the two-part show she was “thrilled” with the interview.
“You couldn’t have given me a better present,” she added. “He said so many demonstrably untrue things. It was just a roadmap to rip him apart.”
Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre and Ghislaine Maxwell pose in a photo taken at Maxwell’s Mews House
On the original Newsnight broadcast, the Duke denied having had sex with Mrs Giuffre, said he had no recollection of ever meeting her and that he had spent the day at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, at a party with a of his daughters.
Ms Giuffre said Andrew was sweating profusely as they danced at London’s Tramp nightclub during an alleged encounter.
The Duke told Mrs. Maitlis that his service in the Falklands War had caused a medical condition at the time, which prevented him from sweating.
One of Prince Andrew’s friends, Irish defamation lawyer Paul Tweed, said in the documentary that he tried to persuade the Duke not to give the interview.
Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed Prince Andrew (right) was ‘euphoric’ after his interview with Emily Maitlis (left) because ‘he thought it went really well’
Ms Maitlis revealed she was ‘appalled’ by some of the Duke’s reactions, describing it as ‘a tidal wave of bad answers’.
She said, “That’s how I know Prince Andrew is happy with the interview because he kept chatting. He seemed very cheerful.
“Lots of people came in and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, “Okay, Thursday night we have cinema night at the palace. You can stay if you want.” And at that moment I just thought: I have to get out of here. I needed the space to work out what just happened.’
Mrs. Maitlis further revealed how the Queen seemed to realize the seriousness of the situation before the Duke did.
She said: “It wasn’t until the Saturday the Queen was reported to have read the entire transcript that he received a tap on the shoulder from his security detail.
“And they’d said, ‘I think, sir, you might have to come with us.’ After the Queen saw what was in the interview, I think it got to her before it got to him.’
After the BBC broadcast in November 2019 and the furor over Andrew’s friendship with Epstein, the Duke retired from public life.
Last year he reached an out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre, reportedly worth up to $12m (£9.6m) following her civil sex claim against him in the US.
He strongly denies any allegation.
Epstein was found dead in August 2019 in his cell at a Manhattan federal prison while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.
Andrew’s infamous Newsnight interview is also being edited by Netflix, starring Sex Education star Gillian Anderson as Ms Maitlis and The Man In The High Castle actor Rufus Sewell as Andrew.
Ms McAlister revealed to the Channel 4 documentary that the Duke had brought his daughter, Princess Beatrice, to the final negotiations with the BBC over what to include in the interview.
“Can you imagine being in Buckingham Palace and about to talk to a member of the royal family about sex crimes? That’s pretty awkward – and now I have to do it in front of his daughter,” the producer said.
Ms Maitlis said at the time she thought he might have agreed to talk in an attempt to make amends with his daughter, who was recently engaged to her now-husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.
She told the Channel 4 documentary: “It was the first time the thought crossed my mind that maybe he did it for her.
“Your life has been hellish. You should have read these headlines. You are trying to get married. I’m going to do this to make it better for you. I don’t know if that’s true, but it popped into my head.’