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Emily Maitlis has revealed the sick question she received from Prince Andrew before her infamous Newsnight interview with the royal.
The journalist serves as an executive producer on the upcoming Prime Video series A Very Royal Scandal – a retelling of the 2019 interview.
And in scenes set to air in the first episode, Emily, who is played by Ruth Wilson, reveals that before Prince Andrew agreed to the terms of his interview with BBC Newsnight, he asked the presenter whether she had ever been abused.
As the team at the BBC attended a pre-meet with Prince Andrew, played by Michael Sheen, alongside his daughter Beatrice and his private secretary Amanda Thirsk.
And before agreeing to the interview, the Duke leans forward before he asks: ‘Have any of you ever been victims of abuse?’
A Very Royal Scandal has exposed the sick question Prince Andrew asked Emily Maitlis before the infamous Newsnight interview which left the BBC star reeling
And in scenes set to air in the first episode, Emily (Ruth Wilson) reveals that before Prince Andrew (Michael Sheen) agreed to the terms of his interview with BBC Newsnight, he asked the presenter whether she had ever been abused
Visibly shaken by the question, while Emily’s two employees quickly insist that they have not, the journalist herself appears to freeze.
As the silence lingers she quickly adds: ‘No.’
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Emily Maitlis says she feels ’empathy’ for stalker who terrorised her for 27 years because he’s suffering from an ‘obsessional illness’
Prince Andrew questions: ‘Nothing in your life?’ as Emily replies: ‘Nothing that bares comparison.’
‘So you’re judgement wouldn’t be coloured by anything at all?’ clarifies Amanda, who is played by Joanna Scanlan.
‘Not at all,’ confirms Emily as the meeting draws to a close.
However the chilling question plays on Emily’s mind and later in the episode she confides in her husband as she tells him: ‘You know at the end of my meeting with Prince Andrew he asked me if I had ever been the victim of abuse? It felt horrible.’
‘What did you say?’ asks her husband Mark Gwynne as Emily replies: ‘Well nothing, having a stalker is not remotely comparable and I don’t want to talk about it.’
Emily was a victim of stalker for 27 years after Edward Vines bombarded her with letters following a fixation that has spanned since the pair attended Cambridge University together in the 1990s.
Before agreeing to the interview, the Duke leans forward before he asks: ‘Have any of you ever been victims of abuse?’
Visibly shaken by the question, while Emily’s two employees quickly insist that they have not, the journalist herself appears to freeze
However the chilling question plays on Emily’s mind and later in the episode she confides in her husband as she tells him: ‘You know at the end of my meeting with Prince Andrew he asked me if I had ever been the victim of abuse? It felt horrible’
In 2022 Edward was jailed for eight years after writing a series of letters from HMP Nottingham declaring his ‘unrequited love’ with ‘outpourings of affection’ for her
In 2022 Edward was jailed for eight years after writing a series of letters from HMP Nottingham declaring his ‘unrequited love’ with ‘outpourings of affection’ for her.
In March 2023 he was jailed for a further nine months after trying to also write to the presenter’s mother.
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Emily Maitlis reveals request from Prince Andrew after notorious Newsnight interview had finished
Vines had insisted that he would continue penning letters to Maitlis until she spoke to him ‘about her behaviour in 1990’ – when he claimed ‘she snubbed him at Cambridge University’.
A court heard that, while he was awaiting sentence for breaching his restraining order 20 times, he tried to write to Maitlis’ mother Marian between July and August in 2022.
And the connection between terrorised by a stalker and Prince Andrew’s question of abuse is clear in the actresses face.
Amazon Prime released the trailer for upcoming drama A Very Royal Scandal last Wednesday, it will drop on the streamer on September 19.
It comes after Emily revealed the awkward request she received from Prince Andrew after their notorious interview ended.
The interview was widely branded a ‘car crash’ for the Duke of York, but Emily has now revealed that he actually wanted to spend even more time talking about sweating and Pizza Express.
Of Prince Andrew’s request, she said: ‘Once we’d finished the interview, I said as a courtesy, “Is there anything that didn’t get included that you wanted to discuss?” and Prince Andrew said, “Well actually, there were a couple of things. You didn’t include my alibi”.
Prince Andrew questions: ‘Nothing in your life?’ as Emily replies: ‘Nothing that bares comparison’
Amazon Prime released the trailer for upcoming drama A Very Royal Scandal last Wednesday, it will drop on the streamer on September 19
‘He wanted to talk about the fact that he’d been at Pizza Express on the night in question.
‘And it was a very complicated moment for us because, on the one hand, I knew that if he included some of the stuff that he wanted to talk about, for example the sweating and the Pizza Express alibi, it was not going to help his case, in fact, it was actually going to make it look worse.’
Emily added: ‘I felt kind of a responsibility to not let him walk into that, but on the other hand, I also felt a responsibility to include the things that he had said were important to him to say.’
The News Agents presenter went on to reveal how it was more difficult to get interviews afterwards as it scared people off.
‘It’s a curious thing actually, on the one hand, you’d think it might make it really easy to get people to do interviews with you because they’ve seen your interview and they’ve heard of you, ‘ she said.
‘And on the other hand, nobody wants to do an interview with you because they’ve seen your interview and they’ve heard of you!
‘So, I think it’s slightly double-edged. Some people come towards you, and some run a mile.’