Producer reveals Princess Beatrice's involvement with Prince Andrew's Newsnight interview
It's a moment in royal history that none of us are likely to ever forget: Prince Andrew's now infamous Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, in which he denied any wrongdoing when it came to accusations of sexual assault, claimed he couldn't sweat and that he was in a Pizza Express in Woking on the night he was accused of sleeping with an underage girl in the home of Ghislaine Maxwell. The Prince has denied any wrongdoing and later settled Virginia Giuffre's claim against him out of court for an unknown sum.
Now, almost two years on from the special airing, the producer responsible for coordinating it, Sam McAlister, has spoken on This Morning revealing that behind-the-scenes, Prince Andrew was supported by his eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, and that afterwards the Duke of York felt that the interview had gone 'wonderfully'.
Talking to presenters Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield, Sam said, "Yeah, that [Beatrice being in attendance] was a real curveball, because I'd turned up to the negotiation slightly brassy, a little bit ballsy, as I'm sure you've noticed about me already, a little bit ooh, a little bit aah, albeit with intellect and the legal element.
"But then Prince Andrew said 'oh by the way, I've brought someone with me'. I'm thinking it's got to be a lawyer, please God for your sake, let it be a lawyer, and then round the corner, Princess Beatrice is here."
She continued on to say that the production team were especially attentive to Beatrice, through fears that she may encourage her father to pull the plug on the interview.
"Now the only thing worse than negotiating an interview with an alleged sex offender in a royal situation is doing so in front of his young daughter," Sam reflected. "Beatrice was the difference between yes and no [...] I asked her tentative questions as she was just looking out for her dad."
The producer added that she still finds the interview to be surreal, saying that when she rewatches clips even now, that she 'can't believe' some of the things that the royal alleged.
"When I was watching the clips just now, I still can't believe that that was said on camera because who in their right mind would say that? You think it's the briefing chat," she remarked.
"I have to be honest with you, just before we came on air, I got a bit of a nervous tic. So I'm looking at the floor, the beautiful floor, I'm 15 feet from him [Prince Andrew], I'm in Emily's [the interviewer] eye line, obviously I'm trying not to distract her, she's doing a phenomenal job, incredible, and I'm looking at the floor and trying not to laugh."
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