Former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis has suggested that Prince Andrew may have only agreed to do his car crash Newsnight interview to help his daughter Princess Beatrice.
The newsnight presenter, who grilled the Duke of York during the now infamously disastrous sit down chat, was involved in discussions with Andrew, his eldest daughter and Sam McAlister prior to the interview.
Sharing her thoughts, Ms Maitlis said that he may have been thinking of his daughter - who had recently become engaged to her now-husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi - when he agreed to the interview.
She said in a new Channel 4 documentary: "It’s the first time the thought crossed my mind that maybe he was doing it for her.
"Your life has been hellish. You’ve had to read these headlines. You’re trying to get married. I’m going to do this to make it better for you. I don’t know if that’s true, but it crossed my mind."
The Duke of York's disastrous interview fanned the flames of scrutiny, rather than dampen them, over allegations that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre, then aged 17, was trafficked to have sex with the royal.
However, Ms Maitlis explained, that the negative implications of the interview "dawned" on the Queen "before they did onto him".
She said that Andrew had told her that he had to "seek approval from higher up" - which meant that the Queen had likely given the green light for the interview to go ahead.
The Duke later stepped down from public life and last year, he settled out of court for £12million with Ms Giuffre in her US civil sex claim. He continues to deny any wrongdoing.
Her lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, said the Newsnight interview gave her client the “roadmap to tear him apart” in the civil claim.
Meanwhile, former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed that Prince Andrew was "euphoric" following the interview, as he felt it had "gone really well".
"It was only on the Saturday when the Queen had reportedly read the whole transcript that he had received a tap on the shoulder by his security detail," she explained.
"And they had said, 'I think, sir, you might have to come with us.' It was after the Queen had seen what the interview contained that I think it dawned on her, before it dawned on him."
