‘Blunt’ question by actress about Prince Andrew’s interview

The actress who plays a central role in a new drama series about Prince Andrew’s disastrous interview says she had one big question when taking on the part.
Ruth Wilson stars as Emily Maitlis in A Very Royal Scandal, which is based on the Duke of York’s infamous BBC interview that saw him grilled about Jeffrey Epstein by a journalist for the first time.
Prince Andrew is played by Michael Sheen in the series, which premieres tomorrow (September 19) on Prime Video.
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A Very Royal Scandal follows the action of Maitlis and Prince Andrew in the lead-up to the interview, the ground-breaking event itself and the many questions left in its wake that would change their lives forever.
The sit-down saw Prince Andrew squirming when questioned over his links with Epstein.
He denied allegations he sexually abused accuser Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17 and disputed her account of the events in 2001.
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The real-life Maitlis was an executive producer on the series and worked closely with the actors during the show’s development.
Wilson shadowed Maitlis before filming began to better understand the journalist and how she and the Newsnight team secured the interview with Prince Andrew.
The actress said one thing she found particularly difficult was getting an opinion out of Maitlis as to her feelings about Prince Andrew’s guilt or innocence.
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Wilson told Tatler: “My first question [to Maitlis] was, ‘Do you think that Andrew is guilty, or, at the time, did you think he was guilty?’
“Emily’s deflective reply was: ‘Guilty of what?’
“That in itself informed me of a way of performing her. That she’s not an investigative journalist who’s out to get a villain.
“It’s more about getting the story and being the first to get that story, and then the consequences that come later.”
Prince Andrew has always maintained his innocence.
Maitlis has previously detailed how Wilson questioned her about the duke’s innocence or guilt.
Writing in The Times last month, Maitlis said of her meeting with Wilson: “She asks me simply, bluntly, if I think Prince Andrew is guilty.
“The speed of the question stops me. Ever since the interview, nearly five long years ago, it is one I have never articulated. I have had plenty of occasions – and more opportunity than most – to consider Andrew’s ‘guilt’, but the question has always struck me as imprecise.
“So I throw it back at Wilson. Guilty of what? And we begin to debate in earnest. I tell her there is no way I or anyone else will ever know the full truth of what happened with or to Virginia Giuffre, the trafficked Jeffrey Epstein victim who claims she was also abused by the royal.
“But he was clearly guilty of other things – his continued friendship with Epstein after his arrest, his flat-footed response to the victims of sex trafficking.”
On November 16, 2019, the BBC aired what would quickly become one of its most-watched interviews on the program Newsnight.
The fallout for Prince Andrew was swift. Days later, Prince Andrew stepped back from public duties and lost most of his patronages and HRH title.
The real-life interview was filmed inside Buckingham Palace and Prince Andrew needed permission from his mother, Queen Elizabeth II before agreeing to do it.