TAKING THE PIZZA
Blow by toe-curling blow, how Prince Andrew’s TV sex quiz quickly became a car crash
PRINCE Andrew’s no holds barred Newsnight interview was yesterday branded a “car crash PR disaster”.
Viewers were baffled when he claimed he did not recall meeting Virginia Roberts but could remember visiting Pizza Express the very day she says they romped in 2001.
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Royal experts were also dumbstruck by the 59-year-old’s decision to appear on BBC to discuss his relationship with paedophile billionaire pal Jeffrey Epstein, who died in jail in August.
One critic called it “a plane crashing into an oil tanker, causing a tsunami, triggering a nuclear explosion”.
The interview room
Palace venue hinted at Queen's approval
THE film starts with the Duke of York leading Emily Maitlis through Buckingham Palace to the huge South Drawing Room where both sat on gilded chairs for the interview.
He could have spoken to Maitlis in a BBC studio yet hosting the chat at the Palace gave the impression the Queen endorsed it.
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In fact, Her Majesty only gave her approval a few days before the programme was to air.
Andrew’s brother Prince Charles and the Queen’s aides were said to have regarded his decision with “incredulity and alarm”.
Probe by U.S. cops
Duke FBI chat vow has 'wriggle room'
THE Prince said he would be “duty bound” to help the FBI’s probe into Epstein’s crimes or testify in court — if his lawyers agree.
Legal experts would have drilled him beforehand on a form of words that would sound like a commitment while still leaving the Duke with plenty of “wriggle room”.
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Meanwhile, a source deemed a voluntary sit-down with the FBI unlikely.
They said: “He’s not going to be travelling to America any time soon. The Palace just aren’t going to put him in that position.”
Memories of Woking
Pizza trip recalled on sex allegation day
ANDREW had “no recollection” of Virginia Roberts and did not notice young women at Epstein’s home because staff members walk around “all the time” at Royal palaces.
Yet he could recall exactly what he was doing on March 10, 2001 — the day Virginia claimed she met him at nightclub Tramp before going on, she said, to sleep with him.
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He said he took daughter Beatrice that day to a party at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, and recalled it “weirdly distinctly” because he had never been there before.
Displays of affection
Other close-ups harm his 'no hugs' claim
WHEN questioned about the snap showing his arm around Virginia’s waist, the Duke said “public displays of affection are not something that I do”.
But we found shots of him with other women indicating otherwise.
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Virginia insisted the picture was of an original she took in the Belgravia home of then Epstein girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell in 2001.
She gave it to FBI investigators in 2011, along with 19 other images.
Andrew said the picture showed him in “travelling clothes” he claimed he would not have worn on a night out but there are snaps of him in near-identical get-up one evening in the city that year.
US journalist Sharon Churcher, who broke the story of Virginia’s claims, said: “I don’t believe she had the knowledge or means to fake a picture.”
Drip-free zone
'No sweat' prince spotted perspiring
ANDREW tried to rubbish Virginia’s claims that he was “sweating profusely” when they danced at nightclub Tramp in 2001.
The prince claimed it was “almost impossible” for him to perspire because he had developed sweat-limiting condition anhidrosis following an adrenaline “overdose”.
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Helicopter co-pilot Andrew said it happened when his Sea King chopper was shot at during the Falklands War in May, 1982. He said he had since overcome anhidrosis.
Yet Andrew was said to have been sweating after leaving a London club in 2000.
Sun doctor Carol Cooper said anhidrosis affects only a few thousand Brits a year.
She added: “Usually adrenaline increases sweating, as anyone who’s faced a threatening situation will know.”
Dr Anuj Chaturvedi, of private London clinic HealthClic, added: “If you stop sweating, you’d be very unwell.”
Epstein's home
No need to stay at 'house of depravity'
EPSTEIN’S £60million “house of depravity” in Manhattan was used by Andrew for four days in 2010 for the “sheer convenience”.
Paedophile Epstein had been released from jail five months earlier and Andrew met many “US eminents” through their friendship.
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Why didn’t Andrew stay with one of them instead of the disgraced financier?
Alternatively, it is reasonable to assume that, had he looked, Andrew could have found a vacant hotel room in New York.
Lack of remorse
NSPCC patron, but no Epstein reproof
DURING the interview, the prince announced that he was the patron of the NSPCC’s Full Stop campaign against child abuse “so I knew what the things were to look for”.
Yet there was no condemnation of shamed tycoon’s Epstein’s behaviour or sympathy for his victims.
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He called the billionaire’s behaviour “unbecoming”, to which Maitlis replied: “Unbecoming? He was a sex offender.”
The Duke of York adds: “Yeah. I’m sorry, I’m being polite.”
Pals with a paedo
Friendship not 'close' but trip to US to end it
ANDREW said he met Epstein through pal Ghislaine Maxwell and claimed they were not “close” and didn’t spent much time together.
Yet Epstein was a guest at Windsor Castle and at Sandringham in 2000.
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In July, 2006 — two months after a warrant was issued for Epstein’s arrest for the alleged sexual assault of a minor — Andrew invited him to Princess Beatrice’s 18th birthday party at Windsor.
Andrew, who said he knew nothing of the warrant, said he flew on Epstein’s jet and stayed on his private island.
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He visited Epstein in 2010, he said, to tell him it was “inappropriate” for them to be seen together after Epstein was convicted.
Andrew, seen left with Epstein in New York in 2011, said: “Doing it over the telephone was the chicken’s way.”
Yet many will think it odd that someone would travel so far to end a friendship unless the pal was close.
Prince Andrew reveals medical condition stops him sweating after sex accuser claimed he ‘sweated profusely’ during Newsnight interview
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