Maitlis says Andrew interview ‘alive with inconsistencies’ about Epstein

Broadcaster Emily Maitlis said she believes Prince Andrew “lied to me about his contact” with paedophile billionaire Jeffrey Epstein during their 2019 Newsnight interview.

On Friday, the prince announced he would relinquish his remaining royal titles, including Duke of York, and public duties amid renewed scrutiny of his ties to Epstein and an alleged Chinese spy.

The BBC Newsnight interview, which Andrew hoped would clear his name, backfired when he said he did “not regret” his friendship with Epstein, who was by then a convicted sex offender and accused of trafficking Virginia Giuffre while she was a teenager.

A recently surfaced 2011 email shows the former duke writing to Epstein: “We are in this together”, sent just months after he had said in the BBC interview to have cut ties with Epstein in December 2010.

The broadcaster told The Observer it prompted her to rewatch the interview for the first time in six years.

“The email that emerged last week categorically showed that what he said [about his last contact being December 2010] was untrue,” she said.

“I have become more alive to all the inconsistencies. It makes you rewatch, revisit everything again.

“I think we know now that [Prince Andrew] lied to me about his contact with Epstein.”

Andrew’s announcement about the titles came just days before the release of Ms Giuffre’s memoir. He paid millions to settle a civil sexual assault case in 2022, while continuing to deny ever meeting her.

In the 2019 interview, the former duke claimed he had “no recollection” of meeting Ms Giuffre and denied having sex with her in March 2001, saying he was at Pizza Express with his daughter Beatrice on the day in question.

Ms Giuffre has alleged she was forced to have sex with Andrew on three occasions, including when she was 17, after being trafficked by Epstein.

Maitlis said: “I think we know 1% of the Epstein files. Britain is fixated on the Prince and his titles. We might be talking about 1,000 victims and 30 to 50 paedophiles.”

In his statement on Friday, Andrew said: “As I have said previously, I vigorously deny the accusations against me.

“In discussion with the King, and my immediate and wider family, we have concluded the continued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family.”

Although Andrew is relinquishing his dukedom, he technically retains it as it can only be removed by an Act of Parliament.

The titles and honours he will no longer use include his wedding day titles – Duke of York, the Earl of Inverness and Baron Killyleagh, his knighthood as a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order (GCVO) and his Garter role as a Royal Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter.

The prince stepped down from public life in 2019 following the interview. He was later stripped of his military patronages by the late Queen and stopped using his HRH title.