Former BBC producer claims Prince Andrew brought Princess Beatrice for interview negotiations
Former BBC Newsnight producer Sam McAlister has claimed that Prince Andrew brought his daughter Princess Beatrice along to negotiate his infamous 2019 interview about his sexual assault allegations.
In November 2019, the British royal sat down with Newsnight's Emily Maitlis to discuss his friendship with late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and deny allegations that he had sex with one of Epstein's alleged sex trafficking victims, Virginia Giuffre.
Speaking to Us Weekly ahead of her book launch, McAlister, who booked the Duke of York, recalled how he brought his daughter along to discuss "those delicate issues of which he was accused".
"This started with an innocent email asking to do what we call a puff piece," she recounted. "On the day of the negotiation (for the interview), I'd say (Prince Andrew) was in very good spirits. He comes from a position of power, and he spent a couple of hours with us. (Then) he threw a complete curve ball at us: his daughter Princess Beatrice came to that final negotiation.
"(To talk about) those associations - which were pernicious and appalling - in front of his young daughter was quite something."
Remembering how the interview deteriorated and failed to clear the royal's name, McAlister said she knew "this was going to be an absolute fire starter but the size of the fire got bigger and bigger as every terrible answer progressed".
Andrew, the son of Queen Elizabeth II, was sued by Giuffre in the U.S. last year, with her accusing him of raping and sexually abusing her when she was 17. They reached an out-of-court settlement in February.
McAlister's book, SCOOPS: Behind the Scenes of the BBC's Most Shocking Interviews, will be released in September.
