Princess Beatrice was in the room during Prince Andrew's infamous BBC interview, producer reveals

The producer who secured an interview with Prince Andrew on the BBC has revealed his eldest daughter was in the room when he was grilled over allegations of sex abuse.

The Duke of York agreed to speak to Newsnight and presenter Emily Maitlis in November 2019 about his relationship with convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Although it was meant to give Prince Andrew an opportunity to defend the claims made against him – including allegations a 17-year-old girl was forced to have sex with him three times – the interview was widely criticised and labelled "disastrous" and "a train wreck".

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Now, producer Sam McAlister is speaking about what went on behind the scenes when it was recorded at Buckingham Palace.

She's revealed Prince Andrew's daughter Princess Beatrice wanted to be there when the interview took place, much to her surprise.

Speaking to UK television program Lorraine, McAlister said: "My deputy editor Stuart McLean was there and he goes, 'Oh, I've brought someone with me.'

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"Now I'm an ex-criminal defence barrister so I'm thinking, 'It's going to be a lawyer – this is over.' And then it's Princess Beatrice.

"Imagine speaking about the things we had to talk about in that tiny room, face-to-face with her father who is accused of those heinous acts."

McAlister said that after filming wrapped, Andrew's assistant said, "Wasn't he wonderful?"

McAlister then turned down Andrew's offer of a tour of the palace, fearing she "wouldn't have been able to speak to him in good faith".

Soon after it went to air, Prince Andrew stepped back from public duties and later reached a multi-million dollar settlement with his accuser Virginia Giuffre, ending the long-running legal battle.

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In the interview, Prince Andrew defended his relationship with Epstein and explained why he "still" did not regret the friendship.

He said knowing Epstein personally had "some seriously beneficial outcomes".

Prince Andrew was asked about allegations made by Giuffre who said she met the prince in 2001 when she danced with him at a nightclub in London, and had sex with him at Ghislaine Maxwell's house in Belgravia.

Giuffre had gone into detail, including that the prince had been "profusely sweating".

Andrew said he had a medical condition meant it was "impossible" for him to have been sweating, caused by "an overdose of adrenalin in the Falklands War when I was shot at".

He also said the day on which Giuffre's allegations are said to have happened, he was not out in London but "at home with the children".

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Andrew said he had taken Princess Beatrice to a party at a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking.

McAlister previously revealed that Beatrice had been in a meeting when she and the Newsnight team secured the interview with Prince Andrew.

Beatrice, she said, took notes and appeared "anxious" during the meeting.

"To be frank, the only thing worse than speaking to a prospective interviewee about allegations of sexual impropriety and sex with a 17-year-old girl is having to do so in front of his daughter," McAlister writes in her book Scoops: Behind The Scenes Of The BBC's Most Shocking Interviews.

"Princess Beatrice was polite and engaged, but, unlike her father, she was evidently anxious about the meeting and clearly there to protect his interests.

"I'd heard she was close to the Queen. The Prince's eldest daughter was now, I felt, the person who could make the difference between us getting the interview or not."

After McAlister and her team had spoken to Andrew about the interview, he said he needed to talk it over with the Queen.

"He turned to Princess Beatrice and said they had a lot to discuss and should go, straight after, upstairs, to talk about it, over a cup of tea, with Mum.

"For a split second, I almost scoffed; what on earth did a grown man need to talk to his mum for? And then it hit me. 'Mum' was the Queen."

He agreed to the interview "less than 24 hours later", she said.

She also revealed how she managed to convince Andrew to speak to the BBC.

"Sir. I have lived in this country for over 40 years and, until now, I only knew two things about you," she told him.

"It's that you're known as 'Air Miles Andy' and 'Randy Andy' and I can absolutely tell you that the latter really doesn't help you in your current predicament."

After "a long pause", in which McAlister thought she had "blown our chances of landing the interview of a lifetime", Prince Andrew "laughed".

There are now reports the infamous interview is being turned into a movie, with Hugh Grant said to be who producers want to play Prince Andrew.