Released emails dispute Andrew’s claim he cut Epstein off (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: The latest revelations from the Epstein files raised some serious questions about the reliability of what the then Prince Andrew said in a BBC Newsnight interview in 2019.

[00:00:10] Speaker 2: Tonight, for the first time, Prince Andrew speaks out.

[00:00:14] Speaker 3: I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. From that day forth, I was never in contact with him.

[00:00:20] Speaker 1: We've gone through his replies to find out how they stand up to what we've found out since in emails which were apparently sent by and to Andrew. He has previously denied any wrongdoing.

[00:00:35] Speaker 3: It would be, to some extent, a stretch to say that, as it were, we were close friends.

[00:00:41] Speaker 1: We now know that Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Geoffrey Epstein were in frequent contact with each other. They talked business, they mixed socially, they visited each other. They were close enough for Epstein to set up a dinner date for Andrew, promising that his guest was 26, Russian, clever, beautiful and trustworthy, in an email from August 2010.

[00:01:03] Speaker 2: In 2008, he was convicted of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. He was jailed. This was your friend. Yes. How did you feel about it?

[00:01:15] Speaker 3: Well, I ceased contact with him after I was aware that he was under investigation. That was later on in 2006. And I wasn't in touch with him again until 2010. So it was one of those things that if somebody's going through that sort of thing, well, I'm terribly sorry, I can't be... So no contact?

[00:01:41] Speaker 2: No contact. He was serving time. There was no call, no letter, nothing there.

[00:01:46] Speaker 1: Except here's an email from Andrew to Epstein in 2009. Please, may I stay in your beautiful apartment again? Andrew was asking about using Epstein's place in Paris at a time when he says there was no contact.

[00:02:04] Speaker 2: He was released in July. Within months, by December of 2010, you went to stay with him at his New York mansion. Why? Why were you staying with a convicted sex offender?

[00:02:17] Speaker 3: Right. I have always, ever since this has happened, and since this has become, as it were, public knowledge that I was there, I've questioned myself as to why did I go, what was I doing, and was it the right thing to do?

[00:02:34] Speaker 1: But this email was sent as soon as Epstein's sentence was over in July 2010, saying, congratulations. As he'd found out, you were allowed out from yesterday. While in New York, this picture was taken of the pair walking in a park. Andrew gave an account of their conversation, where their connection was said to have been severed.

[00:02:58] Speaker 3: Look, because of what has happened, I don't think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact. And by mutual agreement during that walk in the park, we decided that we would part company and I left, I think it was the next day, and to this day, I never had any contact with him from that day forward.

[00:03:20] Speaker 1: But contact showed no signs of stopping. Soon after, Andrew was back in the UK. It was great to spend time with my US family, looking forward to joining you all again soon, he told Epstein. I'll call you tomorrow, as I'm moving the family up to Sandringham during the day. The no contact had evaporated. Andrew went on to say Epstein had been understanding about the end of their relationship, with Andrew insisting that with all the attendant scrutiny on me, it was over. But months later, they were still sending friendly emails to each other, with Andrew in February 2011, promising Epstein, we'll play some more soon. In the interview, he maintained that he had taken a moral stance on cutting off ties with Epstein. It seemed an important part of his testimony.

[00:04:09] Speaker 3: I took the decision that it was, I had to show leadership and I had to go and see him and I had to tell him, that's it.

[00:04:15] Speaker 1: Although the emails suggest that wasn't it. They were even in touch on Christmas Day. Emily Maitlis pressed the point about this being their only connection since his conviction in 2008.

[00:04:27] Speaker 2: Was that visit, December of 2010, the only time you saw him after he was convicted? Yes. Did you see him or speak to him again?

[00:04:36] Speaker 1: No. That's disputed by the emails. Can you speak any time from now until later today? That was Andrew's message to Epstein on Christmas Eve after that trip. One of a number of emails that seemed to be about sitting up phone calls. The interview turned to Virginia Roberts, whose later married name was Virginia Dufresne, and who became Andrew's most prominent accuser before her death in 2025.

[00:05:06] Speaker 3: I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever.

[00:05:11] Speaker 2: You don't remember meeting her?

[00:05:13] Speaker 1: No. Behind the scenes, there were emails back and forth about her claims. That included preparing a statement for Ghislaine Maxwell to explain her position, including a contribution from Amanda Thirsk, Andrew's private secretary and close adviser. Her proposal was to reject Virginia's claims about being trafficked for sex with Andrew as completely untrue, but she suggested that Maxwell said, The only time I recall the meeting was at my home in 2001 in London. You have published a photo. They did not have sex. They may have met up again in New York, but I categorically state that Prince Andrew did not grope, nor did they have sex. There was no orgy in Little St James. It rejected any wrongdoing, but it accepted that they had met in London and possibly New York, and the photo of Dufresne and Andrew together was authentic. There was an explanation that he was in Woking at Pizza Express, and more doubt was cast on the photo.

[00:06:15] Speaker 2: You've seen the photo? I've seen the photograph. How do you explain that?

[00:06:19] Speaker 3: I can't. Because I don't, I have no, again, I have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken.

[00:06:27] Speaker 1: But an email from Ghislaine Maxwell again appears to confirm that there was a meeting with Dufresne that evening at Maxwell's London house, and that the photo was taken there. In a draft statement she sent to Jeffrey Epstein in 2015, she wrote, In 2001, I was in London when met a number of friends of mine, including Prince Andrew. A photograph was taken, as I imagine she wanted to show it to friends and family. It doesn't seem to dispute the photo or the meeting. There have been more recent calls for Andrew to testify about what he knew, and Emily Maitlis put that question to him.

[00:07:08] Speaker 2: Would you be willing to testify or give a statement under oath if you were asked?

[00:07:13] Speaker 3: Well, I'm like everybody else, and I would have to take all the legal advice that there was before I was to do that sort of thing. But if push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then I would be duty bound to do so.

[00:07:33] Speaker 1: One of the significant findings of the released emails is how hard the US authorities tried to get Andrew to testify, with no sign of him or his lawyers being willing. The US authorities concluded in an email from 2020 that efforts to obtain a truly voluntary interview have been exhausted. They then began a formal process of trying to compel Andrew to give evidence. More than six years after the Newsnight interview, there is still no sign of him planning to share what he knows about Epstein. As the interview came to a close, Emily Maitlis then asked more about Andrew's feelings about the scandal and how the royals should respond. His response, once again, relies on the claim that he'd cut ties with Epstein on that New York trip in 2010.

[00:08:22] Speaker 3: I know that I made the wrong judgment and I made the wrong decision, but I made the wrong decision and the wrong judgment, I believe, fundamentally for the right reasons, which is to say to somebody, I'm not going to see you again. And in fact, from that day forth, I was never in contact with him.

[00:08:44] Speaker 1: The emails show he was frequently still in contact. That included sending Epstein official documents from Andrew's trips as trade envoy, including confidential information from Afghanistan. All of that was sent after the time he claimed not to be in contact. Emily Maitlis gave him one more chance to make an apology.

[00:09:04] Speaker 2: I wonder if you have any sense now of guilt, regret or shame about any of your behaviour and your friendship with Epstein.

[00:09:14] Speaker 3: As far as Mr Epstein is concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in 2010.

[00:09:21] Speaker 1: He talked about some seriously beneficial outcomes from their relationship.

[00:09:25] Speaker 3: As I write in having him as a friend at the time, bearing in mind this was some years before he was accused of being a sex offender, I don't think there was anything wrong then. The problem was the fact that once he had been convicted, I stayed with him.

[00:09:48] Speaker 1: From the released files, the emails indicate that Epstein's conviction wasn't any problem for Andrew. As we've seen, his response at the end of Epstein's sentence was congratulations and their personal, social and business connection had shown no signs of stopping. We have contacted Andrew Matt Batten-Windsor for comment. He's previously denied any wrongdoing.