Queen Elizabeth ‘realised Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview was a car-crash before he did’

The late Queen Elizabeth II previously realized her second son’s interview with Newsnight was a mistake, a new documentary claims.

The Duke of York asked permission from the Queen to be questioned about his association with pedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, TV presenter Emily Maitlis claimed.

Andrew came under intense scrutiny following his disastrous 2019 BBC Newsnight interview about allegations that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre was trafficked into having sex with the royal family when she was 17.

In a new two-part Channel 4 documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, former BBC journalist Ms Maitlis said the negative implications of the interview ‘dawned’ at the Queen ‘before they got through 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 continues to deny any allegations.

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.

Ms Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, told the documentary that the Newsnight interview gave her client the “road map to tear him apart” in the civil claim.

Despite the BBC interview eventually leading to Andrew being stripped of his patronage and military ties, former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed the royal family were “euphoric” afterwards because “he thought it had gone really well.”

Ms Maitlis told the Channel 4 documentary that people came into the room afterwards to invite her to a ‘cinema night at the Palace’.

“Lots of people came in and I said, ‘What’s going on?'” she said.

They said, OK, Thursday night we have cinema night at the Palace. You can stay if you want.”

“At that point I just thought, ‘I have to get out of here.’ I needed the space to work out what just happened.’

On the original Newsnight broadcast about four years ago, 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 in question at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, at a party with one 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 Maitlis that his service in the Falklands War had caused a medical condition at the time, which prevented him from sweating.

The infamous interview is also being adapted 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.

During the negotiations, Ms. McAlister and Ms. Maitlis said that Andrew had asked, “Should I tell you why I can’t sweat?” as he tried to explain why Mrs Giuffre’s accusations against him were false.

“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, you know, if he says that, then that’s it…'” Ms Maitlis told the documentary.

Before continuing with the interview, the presenter said Andrew told her to “seek approval from above.”

She said, ‘Of course he’s talking about the Queen.

“You ask your mom if it’s a good idea. This is a decision that goes straight to the top.”

During the documentary, the former BBC journalist said Newsnight turned down an interview with Andrew three times because his team placed editorial restrictions on them.

“Epstein was a red line and we weren’t allowed to ask about him when we did the interview,” Ms McAlister said of one of her first negotiations with the Duke’s chief of staff.

Commenting on Newsnight’s earlier decision not to allow an interview to go ahead after the Epstein restrictions were imposed, Ms. Maitlis said, “Thank God we dropped the whole thing.”

“Because how stupid would we have looked to have done that whole interview knowing we couldn’t ask about Epstein only to find out he was suddenly front page news?”

Prince Andrew may have made his disastrous Newsnight appearance in an attempt to help his daughter Princess Beatrice, his interviewer Emily Maitlis said yesterday.

The Duke of York took his eldest daughter behind-the-scenes negotiations with the BBC team behind the interview, journalist Miss Maitlis and producer Sam McAlister.

Miss 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.’

Producer Miss McAlister said the Duke had announced he had brought someone to the negotiations, and that she thought he meant a lawyer.

She told the documentary: “Instead, his daughter, Princess Beatrice, comes around the corner. That was a really pretty warped ball of warped balls.

‘Can you imagine being in Buckingham Palace talking to a member of the royal family about sex crimes? That’s pretty tricky. And now I have to do it in front of his daughter.’

Miss McAlister has previously described how Beatrice took notes on a clipboard during the meeting and appeared ‘anxious’.

The princess will appear in the new Netflix drama that chronicles the lead-up to the Duke of York’s Newsnight interview. That reports the Telegraph.

Actress Charity Wakefield will star as Beatrice in Scoop, with Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis, Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew and Billie Piper as BBC producer Sam McAllister.

The movie follows the book by Sam McAlister, who managed to score Prince Andrew’s bombshell interview with Jeffrey Epstein, which is widely believed to have backfired.