Andrew’s accuser tells all on TV
Beleaguered prince continues to sweat as never-ending Jeffrey Epstein horror show takes another dark turn
FOR more than two weeks, his reputation has teetered on the edge. Originally, Prince Andrew had convinced himself that by broadcasting directly from Buckingham Palace to the public, he would appeal to the British sense of fair play.
Instead, it proved to be extraordinarily naive because, for Andrew, the Jeffrey Epstein drama is a never-ending horror show.
And when a programme with a pedigree such as BBC TV’s turns its focus on the private life of the queen’s second son, the outcome can be far from certain.
Certainly the appearance of his accuser, Virginia Roberts, did not match the lofty arrogance or shuddering pomposity of the Prince’s encounter with Emily Maitlis.
Nor was there a smoking gun that could despatch what was left of Andrew’s credibility.
But what she did do was enough to reignite the whole sordid scandal.
Slowly but steadily, a clearer picture of this unedifying puzzle is beginning to emerge. And, for Andrew, that cannot be good news.
How he must now regret the folly of his decision to go public.
He will never know for sure if speaking out provoked the woman who says she was a sex slave to challenge his claims that many found flimsy to the point of unbelievability. Perhaps it would have made no difference. After all, Roberts has been peddling her allegations for years. But her intervention on prime-time television has done one thing though, turning the saga into a contest for the truth.
For both figures have essentially accused the other of lying.
He said he has no recollection of meeting her. She said they danced and he sweated all over her.
He said that was not possible, that he could not sweat because of a medical condition. She said he was “sweating all over me… like it was raining, basically”.
As for the photograph in which his arm is around her bare midriff, Andrew had no memory of it and has hinted at trickery with the picture. Just another of the “ridiculous excuses”, according to Roberts. Twenty-four years ago, Martin Bashir’s electrifying interview with Princess Diana precipitated the biggest crisis in the House of Windsor since the Abdication.
How tragic that after the gripping hour of television with his accuser, viewers were left asking who was the more plausible, a man who fought for his country with great courage in the Falklands War or a girl who was trafficked as a sex slave by a billionaire paedophile.
Andrew risked everything by going public and perhaps his lofty self-confidence was the result of being praised too highly, too soon in life.
Then there is the photograph, taken at Royal Ascot in June 2000, years before most people had ever heard of Jeffrey Epstein.
But there he was with Ghislaine Maxwell in the Royal Enclosure.
Four years after his divorce from the Duchess of York, Andrew, then just 40, was dashing, still the pin-up of the royal family. Contrast the handsome young man with the puffy, ageing Prince, now almost 60, squirming under Maitlis’s forensic gaze.
In the end, the recent Panorama is likely to be remembered as posing the simple question of which version of the truth is believed.
Andrew gave his, flatly denying ever having had sex with Roberts. Last night, she gave hers.
“He knows what happened,” she said referring to the duke. “I know what happened, and there’s only one of us telling the truth, and I know that’s me.
One thing from the programme is abundantly clear: Prince Andrew’s life has been based on connections, but it was just one contact whom he introduced to his royal world that has grievously damaged his reputation and sullied the good name of the royal family, too.