Prince Andrew’s interview with the BBC about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was the lead story in the UK on Saturday.
In a rare occurrence, a member of the Royal Family went on camera to talk about allegations made against them.
The interview was the first time the prince opened up publically about his relationship with Epstein and confronted allegations against him.
BBC reporter Emily Maitlis asked Andrew about Virginia Giuffre’s claims: “One of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts (now Virginia Giuffre) has made allegations against you, She says she met you in 2001. She says she dined with you, danced with you at Tramp Nightclub in London. She went on to have sex with you in a house in Belgravia belonging to Ghislaine Maxwell, your friend. Your response?”
Andrew answered, “I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.”
The interviewer asked again if he remembered meeting her, to which Andrew responded “No.”
Video footage released by Daily Mail apparently shows him in Epstein’s Manhattan home, two years after Epstein had been convicted as a sex offender.
He said that he had let the Royal Family down.
“The problem was the fact that once he had been convicted…” Andrew said, Maitlis then added, “You stayed with him.”
“I stayed with him and that’s…that’s…that’s the bit that…that…that, as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and I let the side down, simple as that.”
When asked about his decision to stay with the convicted sex offender, Andrew answered, “It was a convenient place to stay.”
“I mean I’ve gone through this in my mind so many times. At the end of the day, with a benefit of all the hindsight that one can have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do.
“But at the time, I felt it was the honorable and right thing to do and I admit fully that my judgment was probably colored by my tendency to be too honorable, but that’s just the way it is.”
Giuffre said in response to Buckingham’s denials of her accusations: “He knows exactly what he’s done and I hope he comes clean about it.”
