Prince Anderew‘s infamous BBC Newsnight interview from November 2019 is trending all over again now that the film Scoop is streaming on Netflix. The film focuses on the interview which the Duke of York gave about his controversial friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and the ways in which securing the interview came about.
The Netflix film briefly shows his and the Duchess of York’s eldest daughter Princess Beatrice sitting down with her father and some of the Newsnight team, including interviewer Emily Maitlis (played by Gillian Anderson) and former Newsnight producer Sam McAllister (played by Billie Piper) at Buckingham Palace to discuss the prospect of the interview. The film strongly hints that she encouraged her father to do the interview as a way to put the rumors behind them once and for all, although it’s impossible to say just how involved she actually was.
Princess Beatrice Was Reportedly ‘In Tears’ Following The ‘Newsnight’ Interview
Princess Beatrice was reportedly – and quite understandably – distraught in the days following the interview, and was “crying every day” amid the fallout. An April 6th, 2024 article from The Mirror claims that Princess Beatrice “was left ‘mortified’ she didn’t do more to stop the interview from going ahead.”
“Beatrice has been in tears every day since the interview went out,” a source told The Sun back in 2019, adding: “Initially, Beatrice was skeptical that a television interview, which would inevitably delve into her father’s private life, was such a good idea.”
Princess Beatrice was planning her wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi at the time of the interview, and was reportedly considering scaling it back a great deal amid the fallout. At one point, the media did wonder whether Prince Andrew would even attend his daughter's wedding in July 2020, but an insider said that Princess Beatrice would never disinvite her father from her wedding.
"Beatrice would never do anything to be hurtful to her father," a source told People in December 2019. "He's going to be by her side and she's going to be by his." Although he did attend the nuptials, he wasn't present in any of the pictures that were released to the public.
Princess Beatrice's Involvement In The Interview
After the interview was broadcast, it was suggested that Prince Andrew's ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, and Princess Beatrice "cautioned" Prince Andrew about doing the interview. The Daily Mail wrote at the time that they "both cautioned him against doing the program, while his then private secretary Amanda Thirsk was more gung-ho, thinking it would offer him a chance to draw a line under his association" with Epstein.
Despite the discrepancies over just how involved Sarah Ferguson and Princess Beatrice were with Prince Andrew's decision to go ahead with the interview, it's likely that Princess Beatrice was present during at least one of the meetings to discuss the prospect of the interview. At least if we are to believe what McAllister wrote in her own book, Scoops, which the film is based on.
"To be frank, the only thing worse than speaking to a prospective interviewee about allegations of sexual impropriety and sex with a 17-year-old girl is having to do so in front of his daughter," McAllister wrote in her book.
"Princess Beatrice was polite and engaged, but, unlike her father, she was evidently anxious about the meeting and clearly there to protect his interests," she continued, adding: "The prince's eldest daughter was now, I felt, the person who could make the difference between us getting the interview or not."
