Emily Maitlis has shared her feelings about Prince Andrew after producing A Very Royal Scandal (Image: GETTY)
– the woman who conducted the now notorious interview with about the sex abuse allegations made against him by Virginia Giuffre – has admitted she’s still uncertain about the scandal.
Talking at the screening of A Very Royal Scandal, she agonised: “It’s an unfinished story, and there isn’t closure. We talk about the power of journalism, but also, frankly, its limitations as well.”
Despite spending countless hours researching, interviewing and reporting on over the then 17-year-old Giuffre’s claims she was trafficked by and given to Andrew for sex, she’s unsure to this day whether or not he’s innocent or guilty. Dramatising the behind the scenes events surrounding the interview didn’t make things any clearer either.
“Now we know that one of [the alleged victims got this big settlement, you know, millions of pounds, but never had a day in court,” she mused. “There is no closure – and I should make really clear we don’t know that she was a victim of Andrew. We do know that she was a victim of Epstein.”
Emily also admitted that was a point after airing the interview when she asked herself: “What have we done?” She elaborated: “The journalists were almost primed for Andrew to push back or for him to attack or something to go wrong, and then he doesn’t and there’s a kind of sense of ‘What have we done?'”
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Emily Maitlis was played by Ruth Wilson in A Very Royal Scandal, which she co-produced (Image: A VERY ROYAL SCANDAL)
Emily, , continued: “We know that Andrew’s life has changed. We don’t know if Epstein’s victims’ lives have materially changed, and I think that kind of question still hangs over the whole thing.
“I think we can see the impact it had on Andrew’s life at that moment. It was very sudden – losing your titles, losing all your duties, losing your uniform, losing the respect of the British public – and I guess the question that we’re asking ourselves now is: has it reset the shape of the monarchy in any form?”
The implications within the wider royal family also seem to haunt Emily to this day, as she’s admitted wracking her brains about how it impacted and the late .
“Somebody said to me, ‘I’ve just suddenly realised that one of the Queen’s last big decisions was to let Andrew do that interview – it had her blessing.’
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A Very Royal Scandal is available to view on Prime Video now (Image: A VERY ROYAL SCANDAL)
“You have to sort of wonder – were there people around Charles, Prince Charles at that point, who said: ‘I don’t know – was that the right decision? Was it a bad decision? Should Charles have a different role?’
“You’re starting to see potentially the ramifications in terms of the shape of the monarchy.”
Although Emily had the power to make an impact as a journalist, she also had to address her responsibilities and ethical obligations – and the dilemma within her turmoiled mind as she broke perhaps the most important story of her career to date has made for compelling viewing.