Dear Gossips,
Prince Andrew was at the Queen’s Christmas lunch yesterday at Buckingham Palace. It’s a private event for extended family so it makes sense he was there, especially as it’s been made clear that even though he has stepped away from public duty, he still has Her Majesty’s support.
Andrew announced his retreat from royal public life because of the reaction to his interview with Emily Maitlis for BBC Newsnight about his friendship with the dead rapist pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Yesterday also happened to be exactly four weeks since Prince Andrew released his statement confirming that he’d be withdrawing from public duty. During this time, I’m sure, they’ve been hoping that this nuisance, you know, only the allegations of multiple women who’d been sex trafficked by Epstein and made to service his wealthy, influential friends, would die down. It has not died down.
Yesterday The Guardian published a new piece by Emily Maitlis sharing her thoughts on the consequences of his interview with her. She once again talks about how she prepared for the interview, her impression of Prince Andrew when they first met, and when she realised why he had agreed to do it:
“This is a man – a prince – who did not come to repent. He came to earn back his right to tell the story his way.
Once I understood that, everything else flowed from there. Andrew was unleashed. Unstoppable. After a decade of silent frustration, he wanted to tell me everything. He paused being “a royal” and found his voice.”
This is excellent insight. What she’s describing here is an indignant man. And he had no interest in expressing regret or remorse. That’s the portrait of a person who believes he’s the one who’s been wronged and he came into this full of piss and vinegar and CONFIDENCE, ready to finally have his say and convince you that he’s the best, unsweaty and loyal and awesome.
That worked.
Click here to read Emily Maitlis’s essay.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
