now on bbc news a newsnight special, as emily maitlis talks to prince andrew about his relationship with the convicted sex offenderjeffrey epstein — the first time he's answered questions on the scandal. been dogged by questions about his friendship with a convicted paedophile. tonight, for the first time, prince andrew speaks out. in a world exclusive, we go inside buckingham palace to ask about his friendship with jeffrey epstein. did you trust him? yes, i think i probably did. and to hear him answer the allegations made by one

of epstein‘s victims about the prince's own sexual conduct. he knows exactly what he's done and i hope he comes clean about it. i have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. what did he know about epstein? what did he do on his visits to epstein‘s many exclusive homes? why were you staying with a convicted sex offender? right... over the next hour, we hear testimony from the heart of the british royal family about the allegations and what he says happen. would you be willing to testify or give a statement under oath? tonight — prince andrew: the epstein scandal. i let the side down, simple as that. some breaking news right now. disgraced financier jeffrey epstein has taken his own life while he was behind bars here in new york city... jeffrey epstein was found dead in his prison cell in august of this year.

he was due to be tried in new york on charges of sexual abuse and trafficking of dozens of underage girls. he was facing up to 45 years in prison. epstein‘s death robbed his victims ofjustice and many of them gathered to tell the world how he'd ruthlessly exploited them. all i'm going to say is today is a day of power and strength. the billionaire financier liked to mix in very high circles, surrounding himself with a global a—list, including the duke of york, prince andrew. according to prince andrew, he first met epstein in 1999 through a mutual friend, ghislaine maxwell, daughter of robert maxwell. it's been reported that the prince flew with epstein to his private island of little saint james in the us virgin islands, and also visited his other houses in florida and new york. injune 2000, epstein and maxwell

were invited by prince andrew to be guests at a party hosted by the queen at windsor. the dance of the decades event, attended by 600 guests, marked four royal birthdays, including prince andrew's aoth. and later that year came another invitation from prince andrew — maxwell and epstein were guests at sandringham. epstein was first investigated by police in 2005, after the parents of a 14—year—old girl filed a complaint that their daughter had been molested by epstein at his palm beach home. florida prosecutors accused epstein of paying girls under the age of 18, the age of consent in the us, to perform sex acts at his homes. but in 2008, a controversial deal was reached, where he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of soliciting a minorfor prostitution.

in return, epstein got an 18 month sentence, released on probation after just 13 months. a few months after epstein‘s release, in december 2010, prince andrew stayed with him in new york, reportedly for four days. this year, footage emerged of prince andrew during that visit at the door of epstein‘s home. three months later, the news of the world published this photograph of the two men, again during that visit, walking together in central park. serious questions of judgment were now being levelled against prince andrew. why was he visiting a man he knew was a convicted sex offender? what happened next went beyond prince andrew's friendship with epstein, towards allegations about his own conduct — allegations he's always denied. soon after the central park picture was published,

this woman gave an interview to the mail on sunday. virginia roberts said epstein abused her repeatedly over a number of years whilst she was his personal masseuse. it was another photograph accompanying this piece which threw the spotlight on the duke again. prince andrew, with his arm around a young woman, with ghislaine maxwell in the background, sold to the paper by virginia roberts. she recounted abuse byjeffrey epstein. at this stage, there was no suggestion of any sexual contact with prince andrew, but the story and the picture would have made very uncomfortable reading for the duke. but four years later, papers lodged in a florida court did

allege that epstein had forced a woman to have sex with prince andrew on three occasions. that woman was virginia roberts. the details were later officially struck from the court records, when a judge ruled they were unnecessary to the case, saying they were "immaterial" and "impertinent" to the central claim. thejudge did not rule on the truth of the claims. virginia roberts says epstein directed her to have sex with a number of powerful men, one of whom was the celebrity lawyer alan dershowitz. she says dershowitz had sex with her while she was under age. he says she's a liar and is countersuing her for defamation. he spoke to newsnight this year. let me be very clear. i never met virginia roberts, i never heard of her, and she never met me or heard of me. these are virginia roberts‘ allegations about prince andrew. she says epstein first forced her to have sex with the prince in early

2001 in london. she was 17. i was so young. ghislaine woke me up in the morning and said, "you're going to meet a prince today. " i didn't know at that point that i was going to be trafficked to that prince. she says this is when the photo was taken. a recent channel 4 dispatches programme said it believed the photo was taken on the 10th of march 2001. unknown friends of prince andrew have doubted the veracity of the photo in newspaper reports. roberts says that they were at ghislaine maxwell's london home. she says they then went on to the members only nightclub, tramp. we leave club tramp and i hop in the car with ghislaine and jeffrey and ghislaine said, "he's coming back to the house and i want you to do for him what you do for epstein." can you just say if you know prince andrew? ghislaine maxwell denies any wrongdoing.

virginia roberts claims she was forced to have sex with prince andrew for a second time in new york later that year. and again, for a third and final time, during an orgy with around eight other girls on epstein‘s private island when she was 18. what's not disputed is that jeffrey epstein was a serial abuser of young women and children. the investigation into epstein is ongoing. for his part, prince andrew has always denied any allegations made against him by virginia roberts, one of epstein‘s victims, but has never done so in his own words. until tonight. your royal highness, we've come to buckingham palace in highly unusual circumstances. normally, we'd be discussing your work, your duty. we'll come on to that, but today, you've chosen to speak

out for the first time. why have you decided to talk now? because there is no good time to talk about mr epstein and all things associated, and we've been talking to newsnight for about six months about doing something around the work that i was doing, and, unfortunately, we've just not been able to fit it into either your schedule or my schedule until now. actually, it's a very good opportunity and i'm delighted to be able to see you today. as you say, all of this goes back to yourfriendship with jeffrey epstein. mm. how did you first become friends, how did you meet? well, i met through his girlfriend back in 1999, and i'd known her since she was at university, in the uk. and it would be, to some extent,

a stretch to say that, as it were, we were close friends. we were friends because of other people. and i had a lot of opportunity to go to the united states, but i didn't have much time with him. i suppose i saw him once or twice a year, perhaps maybe a maximum of three times a year and quite often, if i was in the united states and doing things and if he wasn't there he would say, "well, why don't you come and use my houses?" so i said, "that's very kind, thank you very much indeed." but it would be...it would be a considerable stretch to say that he was a very, very close friend. but he had the most extraordinary ability to bring extraordinary people together, and that's the bit that i remember, is going to the dinner parties where you would meet academics, politicians, people from the united nations. i mean, it was a cosmopolitan

group of what i would describe as us eminence. was that his appeal, then? yeah. was that what you... ..because you were perceived by the public as being the party prince. was that something you shared? well, i think that's also a bit of a stretch. i don't know why i've collected that title because i don't... ..i never have really parted. —— partied. i was single for quite a long time, in the early ‘80s, but then after i got married, i was very happy and i've never really felt the need to go and party. certainly, going tojeffrey's was not about partying, absolutely not. you said you weren't very good friends but would you describe him as a good friend, did you trust him? yes, i think i probably did. but, again...

..i don't go into a friendship looking for the wrong thing, if you understand what i mean. i'm an engaging person, i want to be able to engage. i want to find out, i want to learn, and so you have to remember that i was transitioning out of the navy at the time. in the transition, i wanted to find out more about what was going on, because in the navy, it's a pretty isolated business because you're out at sea the whole time. i was going to become the special representative for international trade and investment, so i wanted to know more about what was going on in the international business world, and so that was another reason for going there. and the opportunities that i had to go to wall street and other places, to learn whilst i was there,

were absolutely vital. he was your guest as well. in 2000, epstein was a guest at windsor castle and at sandringham. he was brought right into the heart of the royal family at your invitation. yes, but certainly at my invitation, not at the royal family's invitation. but remember that it was his girlfriend that was the key element in this. he was the, as it were, plus one, to some extent, in that respect. am i right in thinking you threw a birthday party for epstein‘s girlfriend, ghislaine maxwell, at sandringham? no, it was a shooting weekend. a shooting weekend? just a straightforward, a straightforward shooting weekend. but during these times that he was a guest at windsor castle, at sandringham, the shooting weekend... yep, yeah, yeah... ..we now know that he was and had been procuring young girls for sex trafficking.

we now know that. at the time, there was no indication to me, or anybody else, that that was what he was doing. and certainly... when i saw him, either in the united states... well, no, when i saw him in the united states, or when i was staying in his houses in the united states, there was no indication, absolutely no indication. and if there was... you have to remember that at the time, i was patron of the nspcc‘s full stop campaign, so i was close up with what was going on in those times, about getting rid of abuse to children. so i knew what the things were to look for but i never saw them. so you would have made that connection because you stayed with him, you were a visitor, a guest on many occasions

at his homes and nothing struck you as suspicious? nothing. during that whole time? nothing. just for the record, you've been on his private plane? yes. you've been to stay on his private island? yes. you've stayed at his home in palm beach? yes. you've visited ghislaine maxwell's house in belgravia in london? yes. so, in 2006 in may, an arrest warrant was issued for epstein for sexual assault of a minor. yes. injuly, he was invited to windsor castle to your daughter princess beatrice‘s 18th birthday. why would you do that? because i was asking ghislaine. but even so, at the time, i don't think... certainly, i wasn't aware when the invitation was issued what was going on in the united states and i wasn't aware until the media picked up on it because he never said

anything about it. he never discussed with you the fact... no, he never discussed it. ..that an arrest warrant had been issued ? no. so, he came to that party knowing police were investigating him? well, i'm not quite sure whether... was it the police that were inv...? i don't know, you see, this is the problem. i really don't know. it was the palm beach police at the time. but, i mean, i'm afraid, you see, this is the problem, is that an awful lot of this was going on in the united states and i wasn't a party to it and i knew nothing about it. in 2008, he was convicted... yep. ..of soliciting and procuring a minorfor prostitution. he was jailed. yes. this was your friend. yes. how did you feel about it? well, i ceased contact with him after i was aware that he was under investigation, and that was later on in 2006. and i wasn't in touch with him again until 2010. so, it was one of those things, that if somebody‘s going

through that sort of thing, "well, i'm terribly sorry, i can't be..." so, no contact? no contact. when he was serving time, there was no call...? no. ..no letter... no. ..nothing there? no. he was released injuly. within months, by december of 2010, you went to stay with him at his new york mansion. why? why were you staying with a convicted sex offender? right, i have always, ever since this has happened, and since this has become, as it were, public knowledge that i was there, i've questioned myself as to why did i go, what was i doing, and was it the right thing to do? now, i went there with the sole purpose of saying to him that because he had been convicted it was inappropriate for us to be seen together. and i had a number of people counsel me in both directions, either to go and see him or not to go and see him. and i took the judgment call that

because this was serious and i felt that doing it over the telephone was the chicken‘s way of doing it, i had to go and see him and talk to him. and i went to see him and i was doing a number of other things in new york at the time, and we had an opportunity to go for a walk in the park. and that was the conversation, coincidentally, that was photographed, which was when i said to him, i said, "look, because of what has happened, i don't think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact." and by mutual agreement during that walk in the park, we decided that we would part company, and i left, i think it was the next day, and to this day i never had any contact with him from that day forward. what did you say when you told him you were breaking up the friendship?

he was what i would describe as understanding. he didn't go into any great depth in the conversation about what i was doing... what he was doing, except to say that... er... ..he‘d accepted whatever it was, a plea bargain, he had served his time, and he was carrying on with his life. if you see what i mean. and i said, "yes, but i'm afraid to say, that's as may be, but with all the attendant scrutiny on me, then i don't think it is a wise thing to do." who advised you, then, that it was a good idea to go and break up the friendship? did that come from the palace? no, no, no, no, no. was her majesty the queen involved? no, no, no, no, no, no. that came from... so, there were a number of people who... so, some people from my staff, some people from friends and family i was talking to, and i took the decision

that it was i had to show leadership and i had to go and see him and i had to tell him that's it. that was december of 2010. yeah. he threw a party to celebrate his release and you were invited as the guest of honour. no, i didn't go. 0h, in 2010? there wasn't. .. there certainly wasn't a party to celebrate his release in december because it was a small dinner party. there were only eight or ten of us, i think, at the dinner. if there was a party then i'd know nothing about that. you were invited to that dinner as a guest of honour. well, i was there, so there was a dinner, but i don't think it was quite as you might put it. but, yeah, 0k, iwas there at a dinner, yeah. i'm just trying to work this out because you said you went to break up the relationship and yet you stayed at that new york mansion for several days. i'm wondering how long... yeah, but i was doing a number of other things while i was there. but you are staying at the house...

yes. ..of a convicted sex offender. it was a convenient place to stay. there is... i mean, i've gone through this in my mind so many times. at the end of the day, with the benefit of all the hindsight that one could have, it was definitely the wrong thing to do. but at the time, i felt it was the honourable and right thing to do. and i admit fully that myjudgment was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable. but that's just the way it is. because during that time, those few days, witnesses say they saw many young girls coming and going at the time. there is video footage of epstein accompanied by young girls, and you were there staying in his house catching up with friends. i never... i mean, if they were, then i wasn't a party to any of that.

i never saw them. i mean, you have to understand that his house, i described it more as a, almost as a railway station, if you know what i mean in the sense that there were people coming in and out of that house all the time. what they were doing and why they were there, i had nothing to do with, so i'm afraid i can't make any comment on that, because i really don't know. another guest was john brockman, the literary agent. really? now, he described seeing you there getting a foot massage from a young russian woman. did that happen? no. you're absolutely sure or you can't remember? i'm absolutely sure. so, john brockman‘s statement is false? well, i wouldn't. . . i don't know mr brockman so i don't know what he's talking about. but that definitely wasn't you getting a foot massage from a russian girl injeffrey epstein‘s house? no.

it might seem a funny way to break off a friendship, a four—day house party of sorts with a dinner. it's an odd way to break up a friendship. it's a difficult way of put... that's a very stark way of putting it. yes, you're absolutely right. but, actually, the truth of it is that i actually only saw him for about, what, the par... the dinner party, the walk in the park, and probably passing in the passage. so, let's go to that central park walk... yeah. ..which was snapped. friends of yours suggest that epstein wanted that photo taking. perhaps he'd even set it up. do you worry that you were being played? again, new information‘s coming out since his suicide,

has made us reappraise that walk in the park. we can't find any evidence, or my staff and my people and i come or my staff and my people and i, can't find any evidence to suggest that that was what he was doing. i mean, you can look at it in so many different ways. the fact of the matter is is that somebody very cleverly took that photograph. it wasn't, as far as i remember, nor do my security people remember, anybody being present or close, because there were enough security around. i mean, there are even photographs of the security people who are around in the photograph. so, i mean... he could have done but i... yeah.

i guess what i'm asking is, do you feel that you are part of epstein‘s public rehabilitation? oh, no, funnily enough, i don't. no. i mean, if he was... if he was doing... if that photograph was taken with that purpose in mind, then it doesn't equate to what actually happened. so, why wouldn't you announce this break—up when you got back? why wouldn't you publicly explain what you'd done? did you worry that he had something that could compromise you? no. do you regret that trip? yes. do you regret the whole friendship with epstein? now, still not. and the reason being that the people that i met and the opportunities that i was given to learn, either by him or because of him, were actually very useful.

he himself, not, as it were, as close as you might think. we weren't that close, so therefore, yes, i would go and stay in his house, but that was because of his girlfriend, not because of him. was that visit, december of 2010, the only time you saw him after he was convicted? yes, yeah. did you see him or speak to him again? no. no, that was that. never since then? funnily enough, 2010 was it. that was it. because i went... well, first of all, i wanted to make sure that if i was going to go and see him, i had to make sure that there was enough time between his release... because, it wasn't something that i was going into in a hurry. but i had to go and see him. i had to tell him. and stay with him? and stay in the house of a convicted sex offender? i could easily have gone and stayed somewhere else. but sheer convenience of being able to get a hold of the man.

i mean, he was in and out all over the place. so, getting him in one place for a period of time to actually have a long enough conversation to say, "look, these are the reasons why i'm not going to..." and that happened on the walk. july of this year, epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking and abusing dozens of underage girls. one of epstein‘s accusers, virginia roberts, has made allegations against you. she says she met you in 2001. she says she dined with you, danced with you at tramp nightclub in london, she went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to ghislaine maxwell, your friend. your response? i have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. none whatsoever. you don't remember meeting her? no. she says she met you in 2001, she dined with you, she danced with you, you bought her drinks, you were in tramp nightclub

in london, and she went on to have sex with you in a house in belgravia belonging to maxwell. belonging to ghislaine maxwell. didn't happen. do you remember her? no. i've no recollection of ever meeting her. i'm almost, in fact i'm convinced, that i was never in tramps with her. there are a number of things that are wrong with that story. one of which is that i don't know where the bar is in...erm, tramps. i don't drink. i don't think i've ever bought a drink in tramps whenever i was there. do you remember dancing at tramp? no. that couldn't have happened because the date that is being suggested, i was at home with the children. you know that you were at home with the children?

mm—hm. was it a memorable night? on that particular day that we now understand is the date, which is 10th march, i was at home, i was with the children, and i had taken beatrice to a pizza express in woking for a party at, i suppose, 4:00 or 5:00 in the afternoon. and then because the duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one's away the other one's there. i was on terminal leave at the time from the royal navy, so therefore, i was at home. why would he remember that so specifically? why would you remember a pizza express birthday and being at home? because going to pizza express in woking is an unusual thing for me to do. a very unusual thing for me to do. i've never been... i've only been to woking a couple of times and i remember it, weirdly, distinctly. as soon as somebody reminded me

of it, i went, "0h, yes, i remember that." but i have no recollection of ever meeting or being in the company or the presence... so, you're absolutely sure that you were at home on the 10th of march? yeah. she was very specific about that night. mm—hm. she described dancing with you... no. ..and you profusely sweating and that she went on to have a bath, possibly... there's a slight problem with the sweating, because i have a peculiar medical condition, which is that i don't sweat, or i didn't sweat at the time, and that was... 0h, actually... yes, i didn't sweat at the time because i had suffered what i would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the falklands war when i was shot at and i simply... it was almost impossible for me to sweat. and it's only because i have done a number of things in the recent past, that i'm starting to be able

to do that again. so i'm afraid to say that there's a medical condition that says that i didn't do it, so therefore... is it possible that you met virginia roberts, dined with her, danced with her in tramp, had sex with her on another date? no. do you remember meeting her at all? no. do you know you didn't meet her, or do you just not remember meeting her? no, i have...i don't know if i've met her, but, no, i have no recollection of meeting her. because she was very specific. she described the dance that you had together in tramp. she described meeting you. she was a 17—year—old girl, meeting a senior member of the royal family. never happened. she provided a photo of the two of you together. yes. your arm was around her waist. yes. you've seen the photo. i have seen the photograph. how do you explain that? i can't.

because i don't. .. i have no... again, i have absolutely no memory of that photograph ever being taken. do you recognise yourself in the photo? oh, yeah, it's pretty difficult not to recognise yourself. your friend suggested that the photo is fake? whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph. so it's very difficult to be able to prove it, but i don't remember that photograph ever being taken. but it's possible that it was you with your arm round her waist? oh, that's me, but whether that's my hand or whether that's the position... but i don't... i simply have no recollection of the photograph ever being taken. the world has now seen the photo that virginia roberts provided. taken by epstein, we understand, in ghislaine maxwell's house...

well, here's the problem. i've never seen epstein with a camera in my life. i think it was virginia roberts‘ camera. she said a little kodak one that she lent to epstein, he took a photo and your arm is round her waist. i don't remember... ..i don't remember that photograph ever being taken. i don't remember going upstairs in the house, because that photograph is taken upstairs. and i'm not entirely convinced that... i mean, that is what i would describe as me in that picture. but i can't...we can't be certain as to whether or not that's my hand on her... ..whatever it is, left side. you think that... because i have no recollection of that photo ever being taken. so why would somebody have put in another hand? you think it is you next to her in the photo? oh, it's definitely me. that's a picture of me.

that's not a picture of... i don't believe it's a picture of me in london, because when i go out in london, i wear a suit and a tie. that's what i would describe — those are my travelling clothes if i'm going to go, if i'm going overseas. i've got plenty of photographs of me dressed in those sorts of, that sort of kit, but not there. just to clarify, you think that photo has been faked? nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored, but i don't recollect that photograph ever being taken. and you don't recollect having your hand... no. ..round her waist... no. ..in ghislaine maxwell's house, on any occasion, even if it was a different date? i'm terribly sorry, but if i, as a member of the royal family, have a photograph taken and i take very, very few photographs, i am not one to, as it were, hug and...

public displays of affection are not something that i do. so... that's a best explanation i can give you. and i'm afraid to say that i don't believe that photograph was taken in the way that has been suggested. why would people not believe that you were there? i'm sorry, why would...? i'm just trying to understand. there's a photo inside ghislaine maxwell's house, ghislaine herself is in the background. why would people not believe that you were there with her that night? well, they might well wish to believe it, but the photograph is taken upstairs and i don't think i ever went upstairs in ghislaine‘s house. you're sure of that? yeah, because the dining room and everything was on the ground floor.

it was as you came in the hall. so, i don't remember ever going up there. i'm at a loss to explain this particular photograph. if the original was ever produced, then perhaps we might be able to solve it but i can't. you can say categorically that you don't recall meeting virginia roberts, dining with her... yep. ..dancing with her at tramp... yep. ..or going on to have sex with her... yes. ..in a bedroom, in a house in belgravia? i can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts then or any other time? none whatsoever. because she said in a legal deposition, a legal court document in 2015, she had sex with you three times. she is not confused about this. she said the first was in london, when she was trafficked to you. the second was at epstein‘s

mansion in new york. that is a date in april, i believe, is that correct? she said it was a month or so later. yeah. well, i think with the date we have for that... ..shows that i was in boston, or i was in new york the previous day and i was at a dinner for the outward bound trust in new york and then i flew up to boston the following day. then on the day that she says that this occurred, they'd already left to go to the island before i got back from boston. so i don't think that could have happened at all. there was a witness there, johanna sjoberg, who says that you did visit the house in that month. i probably did. i don't think... one of the weirder things, i was staying with the... because of what i was doing, i was staying with the consul

general, which is further down the street, on fifth, so i wasn't staying there. i may have visited, but, no, definitely didn't... no activity. because in a legal deposition, 2015, she said she had sex with you three times. once in a london house when she was trafficked to you in maxwell's house... yes. ..once in new york, a month or so later at epstein‘s mansion and once on his private island, in a group of seven or eight other girls. no. no to all of it? all of it. absolutely no to all of it. why would she be saying those things? we wonder exactly the same, but i have no idea. absolutely no idea. she made these claims in a us deposition. mm—hmm.

are you saying you don't believe her, she's lying? that's a very difficult thing to answer because i'm not in a position to know what she's trying to achieve. but i can tell you categorically — i don't remember meeting her at all. i do not remember the photograph being taken and i have said consistently and frequently that we never had any sort of sexual contact whatever. she spoke about you outside the court in august of this year. mm—hmm. she said, i quote, "he knows exactly what he's done and i hope he comes clean about it". and the answer is nothing.

so if virginia roberts is watching this interview, what is your message to her? i don't have a message for her. because i have to have a thick skin. if somebody is going to make those sorts of allegations, then i've got to have a thick skin and get on with it but they never happened. for the record, is there any way you could have had sex with that young woman 01’ any young woman trafficked by jeffrey epstein in any of his residences? no. and without putting too fine a point on it, if you're a man, it is a positive act, to have sex with somebody. you have to take some sort of positive action. so, therefore, if you try to forget, it's very difficult to try

and forget positive action and i do not remember anything. i can't, i've racked my brain and thinking... "0h..." when the allegations came out originally i went, "well, that's a bit strange, i don't remember this." and then i've been through it and through it and through it, over and over and over again and no — nothing. it never happened. epstein's housekeeper, also in a florida court legal deposition, said that you visited the palm beach residence around four times a year. you got a daily massage. four times a year?! that was what he said in a florida court legal deposition. no. i'm just wondering, when you look back now, is there a chance that those massages might have been the services of someone who was being sexually exploited or trafficked by epstein? no. i don't think... i mean, no, definitely not. definitely not.

and i definitely did not visit his palm beach house three orfour times a year. absolutely not. how many times would you say you visited? in total, probably four times. in total, throughout the time that i knew him. in fact, probably that was the place that, if you see what i mean, he was in the house more there than in other places that i was... so that's where you'd find him? because it was usually because i was going through and on somewhere else, so it was a day, that was it. you said in your statement from the palace, "at no time did i see, witness or suspect any suspicious behaviour." yeah, yeah.

virginia roberts‘ legal team says, "you could not spend time around epstein and not know what was going on." "you could not spend time around epstein and not know what was going on." if you are somebody like me, then people behave in a subtly different way. you wouldn‘t... first of all, i‘m not looking for it, that‘s the thing. if you‘re looking for it, then you might have suspected, now, with the benefit of a huge amount of hindsight and a huge amount of analysis, you look back and you go, "well, was that really the way that it was, or was i looking at it the wrong way?" but you don‘t go into these places, you don‘t go to stay with people looking for that. you could not spend time around him, that is what they said, "you could not spend time around him

and not know." prince andrew sighs. look, the other aspect of this is that i live in an institution, at buckingham palace, which has members of staff walking around all the time. and i don‘t wish to appear grand, but there were a lot of people who are walking around jeffrey epstein‘s house. as far as i was aware, they were staff, they were people that were working for him, doing things. i, as it were, i interacted with them to say good morning, good afternoon, but i didn‘t, if you see what i mean, interact with them in a way that was, "what are you doing here, why are you here, what‘s going on?" but you‘d notice if there were hundreds of underage girls in buckingham palace... oh, god. ..wouldn‘t you ? but, sorry, you‘d notice if they were hundreds of underage girls injeffrey‘s house. wasn‘t there. not when i was there. now, he may have changed

his behaviour patterns, in order for that not to be obvious to me. so, i don‘t... you know, this is... you‘re asking me to speculate on things that i just don‘t know about. you seem utterly convinced you‘re telling the truth. would you be willing to testify or give a statement under oath if you were asked? well, i‘m like everybody else and i would have to take all the legal advice that there was before i was to do that sort of thing. but if push came to shove and the legal advice was to do so, then i would be duty—bound to do so. because you‘ve said there are many unanswered questions. yeah. everyone affected wants closure. you would help to provide that closure? if there was... in the right circumstances, yes, i would, because i think there‘s just as much closure for me

as there is for everybody else. and undoubtedly, some very strange and unpleasant activities have been going on. i‘m afraid to say that i‘m not the person who can shed light on it for a number of reasons. one of which is that i wasn‘t there long enough. i mean, if you go in for a day, two days at a time, it‘s quite easy, i‘m led to believe, for those sorts of people to hide their activities for that period of time and then carry on when you‘re not there. virginia roberts‘ lawyers, legal team, say that they‘ve asked for a legal statement from you. there is an active fbi investigation now. would you be willing to provide that? again, i‘m bound by what my legal advice...my legal advisers tell me. epstein was found dead... yeah. ..in prison... yes.

..in august of this year. yeah. what was your response on hearing that he died? shock. some people think that he didn‘t take his own life. well, there again, i‘m not one to be able to answer that question. i believe that centres around something to do with a bone in his neck, as to whether or not, if you commit suicide, that bone breaks, or something. but i‘m afraid to say i‘m not an expert. i have to take what the coroner says, and he has ruled that it was suicide. so... he‘s dead, his girlfriend ghislaine maxwell, your old friend... yeah. ..was, victims say, complicit in his behaviour. that bit i can‘t help you with because i‘ve no idea. do you think that she has questions to answer about her role in this?

well, in the same way that i have questions to answer in the sense of— what was i doing, and as i say, that i was there, to my mind, be honourable and say to him, "look, you‘ve been convicted, it would be incompatible for me to be seen with you." and unfortunately, somebody was standing around with a camera at the time and got a photograph of us. it‘s one of the very few photographs there are of us, but that was the case. if there are questions that ghislaine has to answer, that‘s her problem, i‘m afraid. i‘m not in a position to be able to comment one way or the other. when was your last contact with her? it was earlier this year, funnily enough, in the summer. in the spring...summer. about what? she was here doing some rally. so even though he had by then been arrested and was facing charges of sex trafficking... no.

no, no, no. this was early spring, i think. this was long... because, when was he arrested? july. no, it was beforejuly. and that was the last time? yeah, yeah. because i... did you discuss epstein at all then? no. actually, funnily enough, no, not at all. there wasn‘t anything to discuss about him because he wasn‘t in the news. you know, it wasjust... we‘d moved on. i want to talk about moving on now. oh, yeah, yeah, right, 0k. epstein is dead. yes. the women are now being heard. quite rightly. how do you move on from this? well, it‘s an interesting way of putting it. i‘m carrying on with what i do. i have a number of things that i have been doing since 2011. they are pretty well organised, pretty successful, and so i‘m carrying on and trying to improve those things that i‘m already doing. i wonder what effect all this has had on your close family. you‘ve got daughters of your own.

it has been what i would describe as a constant sore in the family. we all knew him. and i think that if we have a conversation about it, we‘re all left with the same thing of, "what on earth happened? "how did he get to where he was? what did he do? how did he do it?" and so, it‘s just a constant sort of gnaw. this first came out in 2011. and, it was a surprise to all of us, because the photographs were published at a separate time to when i was there, and there was a sort of question, "what on earth‘s going on?" and as a family we discussed it.

and then in 2015 when the allegations were made and the deposition, there was a sort of... there was a sort of... this is the immediate family, not the wider family. the wider family couldn‘t be more supportive. but the immediate family, it was, "well, what‘s all this about?" and we alljust were at a loss. so, it‘s just... has the episode been damaging to the royal family, to her majesty the queen? i don‘t believe it‘s been damaging to the queen at all. it has to me. and it‘s been a constant drip, if you see what i mean, in the background that people want to know. if i was in a position to be able to answer all these questions in a way that gave sensible answers other than the ones that i‘ve given, that gave closure i‘d love it

but i‘m afraid i can‘t. i‘m just not in a position to do so because i‘m just as much in the dark as many people. how do you reconnect with the public, then, now? by exactly what i‘m doing, which is to use and to continue to work with pitch, to continue to work with idea and things that i believe strongly in. i‘m not somebody who does things in competition with people, oddly. i do things in collaboration with people. so, i want people to work together to come to, as it were, a solution to a bigger problem. and so i‘ve got a number of people working together, particularly in the education field, particularly in... and also in areas of government and what they are doing, so that we are bringing everybody together so that we‘re all pushing in the same direction. and idea now does that. we‘ve been going properly now for two years. we‘ve got 3.5 million people who have got a badge.

we‘ve got 500,000, orjust over 500,000 young people who are using the service. and i‘m trying to think what else with. .. but it‘s... well, it‘s designed for 7—14 year—olds in the united kingdom and it turns out it‘s done from 5—95 around the world. so, it‘s being done in 100 countries now. so, we‘re slightly on the catch—up with this one. i know we have to bring this to a close because i know we‘re running out of time. no, i know. sorry. you‘ve faced questions today on a very, very raw subject. there has never been an interview like this before. i wonder what that tells us about the way the royal family now confronts these difficult situations. has there been a sea change? i think that the problem that i‘m...we face in the 21st—century is social media.

there is a whole range of things that you face now that you didn‘t face 25 years ago, because it was just the print media. and i think that to some extent there is a thick skin that you have to have. and again, i‘m not a confrontationalist myself. i would prefer to be able to, as it were, resolve things in a way that is sensible. and so, choosing to, as it were, get out there and talk about these things, it‘s almost a mental health issue to some extent for me, in the sense that it‘s been nagging at my mind for a great many years.

i know that i made the wrong judgment and i made the wrong decision. but i made the wrong decision and the wrong judgment, i believe, fundamentally, for the right reasons, which is to say to somebody, "i‘m not going to see you again." and i, in fact, from that day forth, i was never in contact with him. the subsequent allegations are what i would describe as surprising, shocking and a distraction. but that‘s... i mean, there are all sorts of things that are on the internet and out there in the public domain that we just sort of go, "well, yeah. but i‘m afraid this is... it just never happened. you‘ve talked about a thick skin. mm—hm. i wonder if you have any sense now of guilt, regret or shame about any of your behaviour and your friendship with epstein.

as far as mr epstein is concerned, it was the wrong decision to go and see him in two thousand, and, erm, ten. as far as my association with him was concerned, it had some seriously beneficial outcomes in areas that have nothing to do with what i would describe as what we are talking about today. on balance, could i have avoided ever meeting him? probably not. and that‘s because of my friendship with ghislaine. it was inevitable that we would have come across each other. do i regret the fact that he has quite obviously conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? yes. unbecoming? he was a sex offender. yeah, i‘m sorry, i‘m being polite. in the sense that he

was a sex offender. but, no, was i right in having him as a friend at the time, and bearing in mind this was some years before he was accused of being a sex offender? i don‘t think there was anything wrong then. the problem was the fact that once he had been convicted... you stayed with him. i stayed with him. and that‘s the bit that, as it were, i kick myself for on a daily basis because it was not something that was becoming of a member of the royal family. and we try and uphold the highest standards and practices and i let the side down, simple as that. this interview has been exceptionally rare. you might not speak on this subject again. is there anything you feel has been left unsaid that you would like to say now? no, i don‘t think so.

i think you‘ve probably dragged out most of what is required, and i‘m truly grateful for the opportunity that you have given me to be able to discuss this with you. your royal highness, thank you. thank you very much indeed.

it hello, again. we still got over 70 flood warnings in force. the ground is saturated and we have more rain to come overnight and into tomorrow as well. damp weather tonight. we will see another weather system bring in some rain into scotla nd system bring in some rain into scotland and northern ireland, falling as snow over the high ground of the highlands. where the sky is clear, we could be looking at a nip of frost and chilly conditions to ta ke of frost and chilly conditions to take us into sunday. that same zone of cloudy, damp weather will continue to affect parts of northern england, northern midlands and northern wales. southern england, brighter conditions with the best of the day‘s sunshine for scotland and northern ireland. there will be sssssh showers across northern areas as we go through the day and prolonged showers. 0n as we go through the day and prolonged showers. on monday, high looks likely, fine chilly cold day. low pressure with rain gets pretty close to eastern england. that‘s your weather.

prince andrew says he categorically denies having sex with a 17 year old girl. in an exclusive bbc interview, the duke of york has spoken in detail for the first time about the allegations against him. he says he doesn‘t remember this picture being taken of him with the woman who claims she was forced to have sex with him. i can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened. do you recall any kind of sexual contact with virginia roberts then or at any other time? none. the prince says he doesn‘t regret being friends with the disgraced financier jeffrey epstein — even though he was convicted as a sex offender. we‘ll be assessing where tonight‘s interview leaves prince andrew.