A Very Royal Scandal - what we learned from the new Prince Andrew drama
by Isra'a Emhail · RNZThe curtains have been pulled back on one of the royal family's most infamous interviews in a compelling new drama series.
A Very Royal Scandal follows what went on in the lead up to the 2019 BBC Newsnight interview between journalist Emily Maitlis and Queen Elizabeth's second son, Prince Andrew. During the interview, the 64-year-old prince publicly addressed sexual assault allegations and his involvement with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein for the first time.
What was the BBC Newsnight interview?
Prince Andrew had faced turmoil over his ties to Epstein after he was spotted visiting him in 2010, when the US financier was released from prison for pleading guilty to prostituting minors.
Epstein's death, aged 66 in a Manhattan jail in August 2019 while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, sparked a catalyst of events in which the royal family faced increasing pressure to respond to claims about Prince Andrew's conduct.
The same year, court documents in which Virginia Giuffre alleged she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was a minor, were unsealed. A photo of Prince Andrew with his arm around Giuffre's waist, published by the Mail on Sunday about a decade earlier, was resurfaced.
Buckingham Palace denied the allegations but that didn't stop public scrutiny. Ultimately, the prince decided to sit down for an interview with BBC's Newsnight in a bid to clear his name.
During the interview, he denied any recollection of meeting Giuffre and claimed he could not sweat like Giuffre had claimed because he "lost the ability to sweat" after a war accident. He said the photo of him and Giuffre was fake.
He also delved into his relationship with Epstein, saying he did not regret the friendship but admitted it was not appropriate to have gone and seen him in 2010. He also described Epstein's conduct as "unbecoming".
The interview was watched live by 1.7 million Britons and was covered by news agencies from around the world.
What happened after the groundbreaking interview?
Four days after the broadcast, Buckingham Palace announced that Prince Andrew would be stepping down from all royal duties.
In 2022, a US civil lawsuit was made by Giuffre against the royal, claiming he forced her to have sex when she was 17 at the London home of Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's mansion in Manhattan, and Epstein's private island in the US Virgin Islands.
The judge dismissed the lawsuit after a request from Andrew and Giuffre as the pair had reached an out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum. Andrew did not admit wrongdoing in agreeing to settle the civil lawsuit.
Maxwell - Epstein's associate and ex-girlfriend - is now seeking a new trial after being convicted in December of recruiting and grooming underage girls for Epstein to abuse.
How much of A Very Royal Scandal is based on facts?
According to a note at the end of the three-episode Prime Video series, A Very Royal Scandal is partially based on a chapter from the book Emily Maitlis wrote in 2019, Airhead: The Imperfect Art of Making News. These details are stitched together with further recollections which the show's writer, Jeremy Brock, gathered from the BBC Newsnight production team.
"Because we're journalists we're still, I guess, were curious to find out the sorts of conversations that were happening in and around the palace after it [the BBC interview]," Maitlis told The News Agents podcast.
"We've been really clear in the drama not to suggest guilt...
"We could only depict really the palace scenes from what we had been told and that's always going to be second-hand, you never get your sources, you never get your sort of first-person accounts with the royals."
Wasn't there already a show about the scandal this year?
Yes, Netflix released a show earlier this year about the BBC interview, called Scoop. It was told from the point of view of then Newsnight producer Sam McAlister, who helped secure the Prince Andrew interview and wrote a book on it, Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interview.
So what's the difference with this series?
Scoop was a 103-minute film, while A Very Royal Scandal stretches out into three one-hour episodes.
While Netflix's show focused on one of the producers, the Prime Video series is told from Newsnight host Maitlis' point of view, played by English actress Ruth Wilson. Maitlis also served as one of the executive producers on the series.
Viewers are told how the interview impacted Maitlis' personal life and the consquences Andrew had to face.
It also reimagines Prince Andrew's affiliations with Epstein, showing him visiting the US financier for help to pay off a debt, and his relationship with his family, including his daughters, ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, his mother Queen Elizabeth II, her press secretaries, and his brother Charles.
While touching on real events, the drama also embellishes the narrative with a reimagining of what 'could have' happened at Buckingham Palace. For example, Prince Andrew's absence from the Queen's Jubilee was reportedly blamed on Covid. The show suggests this was a ploy to have him step out of the spotlight.
What are the best insights from A Very Royal Scandal?
The question that stumped the BBC team: "Have any of you ever been victims of abuse?" Prince Andrew (Michael Sheen) asks the Newsnight team, including Maitlis during a pre-meeting. It appeared the royal and his PR team wanted to see if anything personal would affect their judgement. The Newsnight team is shocked by the question.
[LI] They had just two days to prepare for the interview. In that short turnaround, they had to investigate claims the photo of Prince Andrew with Giuffre was fake. The Newsnight team had spent six months going back and forth with the royal PR team to conduct a no-holds-barred interview. It was initially rejected because it involved questions about Epstein.
- The interview was called off hours away from filming. In the series, Maitlis is told the interview was cancelled, but in real life she only heard that this happened while reading the script for the show. The drama reimagines Princess Beatrice, who was said to be present during the pre-meeting with a notepad, speaking to her father in support of his decision to do the interview, and saying Charles was wrong to tell him off for it.
- The sweating claim nearly never aired.A Very Royal Scandal suggests Prince Andrew's comments on not being able to sweat were nearly cut from the interview because of a continuity mistake. They ended up becoming some of the most infamous lines from the interview as news media from around the world and commentators focused on this point.
- The show depicts Prince Andrew and his private secretary Amanda Thirsk thinking the interview went well. It also depicts the Queen's private secretary, Sir Edward Young (Alex Jennings), telling Thirsk that the Queen is upset and this was a "clusterf--- worthy of the Kardashians". Maitlis told The News Agents podcast: "There was I guess six or seven hours during which we knew, laterally, that the Queen had read the transcript and the interview hadn't yet been broadcast. And I suppose it speaks volumes to her, the monarch, that she didn't attempt to pull it."
What have the royals said about the new series?
While none have officially spoken out, British tabloids, citing unnamed sources, last week reported Prince Andrew was looking forward to the release of the series and would even hold a screening party. Others said he was depressed and had anxiety ahead of the release.
Maitlis has said she didn't believe King Charles (then Prince of Wales) was particularly upset with the BBC Newsnight interview.
"One month after the interview aired, I was taken aside by someone close to [then] Prince Charles and told - somewhat cryptically - that 'HRH was not unhappy with the interview'," she told Radio Times ahead of the release of the series.
"The comment stunned me. In the years since, I have returned to that one line so many times in my head, trying to fathom the meaning of the message.
"Was I being told that the man who would ascend to the throne just three years later as our king was perhaps relieved that this exchange had taken place? Use the opportunity to reorder the monarchy in a way that befitted these times?"
Tensions remain, with reports that the Duke of York will now have to pay his own costs for the upkeep and security of the Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor if he is to remain living there - meaning he won't have the financial backing of King Charles or the royal family for the accommodation.
A Very Royal Scandal is available to stream on Prime Video.