Andrew was happy with his interview
TV’s Maitlis ‘surprised’ at his answers
EMILY Maitlis has said Prince Andrew was “happy” with his interview when it finished, despite subsequent widespread criticism of it.
The Duke of York attempted to set the record straight about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and counter allegations he slept with one of his groomed teenagers.
But Andrew was widely condemned for his unsympathetic tone and lack of remorse about the friendship when grilled by
BBC presenter Emily.
He was also mocked for claiming he is medically unable to sweat and that he could not have had sex with his accuser because he was at a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey.
Emily said the Palace later informed the Newsnight team it thought they had done a “fair job”.
Of the Prince, she said: “The impression I got was definitely that he had been happy with it.”
Andrew stepped down from official public duties following the backlash.
The newsreader and journalist told
Radio Times magazine: “I didn’t see it coming. It wasn’t an attempt to bring down the royals, just a chance to understand the story.”
Emily admitted she “never expected to hear” some of his answers and suspected there are words “he wishes he’d chosen differently or better”.
But she added she has a respect for him facing her questions head on. “I think you have a curious duty of care towards your interviewees,” she said.
“I admire him for his candour and his engagement with the questions in an age of so much deviation and circumnavigation, and quite often a failure to put yourself up for scrutiny.”
However, she said she is concerned the resulting furore could put people off coming on the show. “I didn’t like people saying, ‘oh, it’s a car-crash interview’, because I thought, ‘that’s not enticing, that’s not encouraging’,” she added.
“I don’t want people thinking that’s what happens at Newsnight.”
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