Journalist says she felt empathy for Prince Andrew during and after disastrous interview

The journalist who grilled Prince Andrew about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein says she felt empathy for the embattled royal during and after the heated interview.

The disastrous Newsnight interview aired on the BBC in November, 2019, and ended Prince Andrew's career as a working royal.

It has now been dramatised in a three-part series, A Very Royal Scandal, which premiered last week on Prime Video.

READ MORE: Prince Harry says his mum Diana would be 'incredibly proud'

The series is the second time the interview has been turned into a television event, following Scoop, which streamed on Netflix, in 2023.

In a talk at the Cliveden Literary ­Festival, journalist Emily Maitlis – who sat down with Prince Andrew for the interview at Buckingham Palace – said she felt empathy for the duke during and afterwards.

READ MORE: Insider reveals Queen Mary's secret visit to New York department store

She was speaking with actress Rachel Weisz, who admitted that she had felt "terribly" for Prince Andrew when watching Michael Sheen's portrayal of the royal in the drama.

Weisz asked Maitlis about whether she felt anything towards the duke.

Maitlis replied: "Yes. Yes I did – it's as simple as that. I think that's something we tried to include in the drama – the sense of how journalists approach a story and what the fallout of all that can mean as well."

Maitlis said much thought was given not only to the victims of Epstein but how the women in Prince Andrew's life would be affected by the interview's fallout including his two daughters, Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie.

Princess Beatrice was in the room when the interview was filmed inside the palace.

"We spent a lot of time thinking about not just him but those around him and it was a story predominantly and weirdly about the women," Maitlis said.

"It was the women who were ­Epstein's victims and it was the women who were in the room for the interview and it was the women that formed a very close bond around Andrew in terms of his family and his daughters.

"So I felt there were concentric circles of concern, if you like, for all those groups."

Maitlis also revealed she had no idea the interview with Prince Andrew nearly didn't happen and she only found out when watching the series.

"There's a bit [in the drama] where the interview is nearly called off," ­Maitlis said.

"I said 'Is that what you needed for dramatic irony? That's ­funny', and Stewart Maclean my ­deputy editor went 'No, it was [nearly cancelled] – we just didn't tell you. We didn't want to freak you out'."