Prince Andrew: 'Arrogant' duke had 'no choice' but to step back
Reaction to Prince Andrew's announcement that he will step back from public duties after his interview with BBC Newsnight.
Friday 6 December 2019 09:10, UK
Prince Andrew had "no choice" but to step back from public duties after a disastrous interview in which he failed to say he regretted his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, a former royal press secretary has said.
Dickie Arbiter told Sky News the Duke of York was "arrogant" to think his appearance on BBC Newsnight would be an effective way to address his friendship with the disgraced billionaire, who killed himself earlier this year.
The prince made his announcement four days after the interview aired, insisting that he "deeply sympathises" with the victims of the American financier and was "willing to help" with any investigations into his crimes.
Mr Arbiter, who was a media spokesman for the Queen until 2000, told Sky News: "He went into that interview probably on the belief that it was crisis management, but created more crisis than managed it."
He added: "He felt he could go it alone and I'm sorry to say he's arrogant enough to believe in his own myth that he could get away with it, and really he couldn't get away with it."
Mr Arbiter said Andrew was "left with no choice" but to step down after a number of multimillion-pound businesses, universities and charities .
He added that Buckingham Palace was likely "seething" that the Newsnight interview went ahead, and that the Queen herself was probably "really frustrated" by what had happened.
Sky News' royal correspondent Rhiannon Mills said: "What's been interesting is trying to work out who made that final decision to allow him to do that interview.
"The interview was meant to shut down the noise around this scandal but instead it has blown up around them. They probably weren't anticipating how controversial it was going to be."
Much of the criticism of the interview came from Andrew's failure to express sympathy for victims of Epstein, who was awaiting trial accused of trafficking girls for sex.
He had already served time in prison in 2008 for prostituting underage girls.
Prince Andrew stayed at his house two years later, telling Newsnight it had been "convenient place to stay" and thought it was "the honourable and right thing to do" after visiting him to end their friendship.
He also said he had "no recollection" of meeting Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who claims she was trafficked by the financier and forced to have sex with his associates, including Andrew, when she was 17.
Royal commentator and biographer Claudia Joseph told Sky News: "These victims quite rightly want answers. I think I would have advised him to talk to law enforcement rather than public television."
Sky News' royal commentator Alastair Bruce said it was "very wise" for Andrew to withdraw from public life, with his interview having "thrown an enormous amount of fuel on to very troubled ember".
"Public opinion matters greatly to a constitutional monarchy that exists by the will of the people," he said.
"This has gone in the wrong direction and the right decision has been taken to allow the Queen to get on because as the prince said he was causing a distraction."
The Daily Mirror's royal editor Russell Myers told Sky News the interview and the fallout from it had been an "absolute catastrophe for both the palace and Prince Andrew".
He said his appearance on Newsnight was "an absolute car crash from start to finish" and that the duke had "no-one to blame but himself" for what had happened since.