A princely mistake

By common consent, the Duke of York’s television interview to explain his relationship with the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was a PR disaster. If the intention was to close the story down, it seems to have had the opposite effect, raising as many questions as it sought to address.

Prince Andrew said he had long wanted to make a public statement on this matter, yet his hand was stayed by advisers who did not think it was a good idea. They were right. Viewers will have been agog at the subject matter and with the Prince’s extreme discomfort discussing his sexual proclivities, personal relationships and poor judgment. As an exercise in making a bad situation worse, it has few equals – though inevitable parallels have been drawn with interviews given during the break-up of the marriage of the Prince and Princess of Wales.

Since Prince Andrew saw this interview as an opportunity to put the record straight, it is surprising that he was so ill-prepared for the line of questioning. There was little in the way of contrition and no obvious understanding of the impact Epstein’s activities had on the young women whom he abused.

The Prince might have thought it a matter of honour that he should remain loyal to a friend – but surely, when he discovered Epstein’s true nature, his friendship should have been withdrawn. The convicted sex offender’s behaviour was much more than “unbecoming” and, extraordinarily, Prince Andrew attended a dinner party to celebrate Epstein’s release from jail in 2010.

The Prince displayed a woeful lack of judgment in his relationship with Epstein and the country is unlikely to conclude from the way he handled this interview that his decision-making has improved. But people also realise that this is his own mess to clean up and should not be allowed to tarnish the reputations of the Royal family as a whole.