BBC Newsnight has aired three previously unseen clips from Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis, revisiting the disgraced royal's responses amid renewed scrutiny following the Epstein files and his arrest on suspicion of misconduct in public office.
Unseen Clips Revealed
Presenter Victoria Derbyshire introduced the clips, explaining they were not originally broadcast due to time constraints. The first clip addressed Virginia Giuffre's allegation that the abuse began at Ghislaine Maxwell's London house in March 2001, where she claimed Andrew assaulted her in the bathroom before moving to the bedroom. In the clip, Andrew responded that he had "never been into the bathroom" at Maxwell's house.
Andrew's Sweating Claim
The second clip focused on Andrew's inability to sweat, which he attributed to an adrenaline overdose during the Falklands War. Giuffre had alleged that Andrew sweated profusely on her while dancing at Tramp nightclub. Andrew explained that while flying a helicopter in 1982, he saw a "shell being fired from a ship," which released enough adrenaline to "last a lifetime."
Departure from Trade Role
The third clip showed Andrew being asked why he stepped down as the UK special representative on trade in 2011, a role he held from 2001 to 2011, giving him privileged access to senior government and business contacts. Derbyshire noted that he left the role amid scrutiny over his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein. In the clip, Andrew claimed the departure was to "spread the load a bit because it was too much on me."
Pizza Express Investigation
Newsnight's decision to air these clips followed a bombshell report on Monday revealing that Pizza Express launched an internal investigation into Andrew's claim that he visited a Woking restaurant on March 10, 2001. Derbyshire stated that Newsnight found no record of any customer or staff member seeing him there. Additionally, Freedom of Information requests to the Met Police asked whether royal protection officers accompanied Andrew to Pizza Express that day. The Met responded that confirming or denying the information would reveal whether protection was afforded to a specific individual other than the King and the prime minister, despite previously referring to Andrew's royal protection officers in a February press statement.
