In October 2019, Prince Andrew sat for an interview with Emily Maitlis, one of many BBC’s star reporters. The disastrous interview went viral, and inside weeks, Andrew introduced he was taking a “step again” from his public work as a senior royal in shame. Within the new documentary Secrets and techniques of Prince Andrew, Maitlis stated she was positive somebody was going to get in hassle for the interview, however she did not know if it might be the prince who suffered the implications.
“At any time when the BBC and the royals meet, somebody at all times will get fired,” she stated. “I did not assume it might be him.” Maitlis added that she wasn’t attempting to hurt the prince. “He misplaced quite a bit from doing that interview,” she stated. “My intention was to not break his life. That was not on my radar.”
Within the documentary, she and her producer on the interview, Sam McAlister, supplied a couple of the explanation why Andrew may need been inquisitive about sitting down with the BBC within the first place. “The problem of being royal is that you just don’t get that proper of reply,” Maitlis stated. “You don’t get to tweet out should you don’t like a narrative.”
To barter in regards to the interview, Maitlis and McAlister visited Andrew at residence, and Maitlis stated that the assembly was joined by Princess Beatrice. They went over a couple of concepts, after which Andrew stated they might get again in contact with a last resolution. “He stated this curious phrase: ‘I’ve bought to hunt approval from greater up,’” Maitlis stated. “And I spotted he was speaking in regards to the queen.”
Earlier than the interview, she practiced with one other BBC producer, Esme Wren, enjoying the position of Andrew. Maitlis additionally defined that getting ready for the interview was traumatic as a result of she knew she solely had one shot. “I knew that I needed to do an interview that might maintain up in a courtroom of regulation. As soon as we knew we had the possibility, there couldn’t be a misstep,” Maitlis defined. “I used to be terrified about all the pieces. I used to be terrified I’d get the tone flawed and both be too ingratiating or too impolite.”
Afterward, McAlister stated each Andrew and his assistant Amanda Thirsk thought the interview had gone effectively. Maitlis defined that the BBC staff left the palace that day feeling anxious. “We crammed right into a taxi and we have been all eyeballing one another. We didn’t know whether or not to snicker or to cry,” she stated. “We had bought an interview the likes of which had by no means been seen earlier than.”
Because the interview aired in 2019, Maitlis has left the BBC and is now a number of The Information Brokers on LBC Radio. McAlister wrote, Scoops: Contained in the BBC’s Most Stunning Interviews from Prince Andrew to Steven Seagal, a memoir about her time on the broadcaster within the runup to the Andrew interview. Final 12 months, the memoir was optioned by Netflix, and Rufus Sewell and Gillian Anderson are set to play Andrew and Maitlis respectively.
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