‘I’m Absolutely Stunned’: Journalist Behind Landmark Prince Andrew Interview Floored By His Arrest

Former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Thursday that she was flabbergasted at the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor some seven years after she interviewed him about his ties to Jeffrey Epstein.

The 2019 Newsnight interview was seen as disastrous for the Duke of York, who justified his friendship with Epstein and denied ever taking the now-infamous photo with his arm around a then-teenage Virginia Giuffre.

Following the interview, Queen Elizabeth II stripped her second-eldest son of his military affiliations and patronages, and he gave up his HRH title. After the queen’s death, King Charles III rescinded the rest of Andrew’s titles and kicked him out of his home at Royal Lodge.

“I’m absolutely stunned by what we’re seeing today,” Maitlis told Amanpour. “As you said, the last time there was an arrest of a royal was 1647. That is, 350 years ago, and it ended up with the beheading of Charles I, and briefly, the end of the monarchy.”

“So this is not something we see in this country. This is not something that we are used to seeing,” Maitlis continued. “And we have to remember that Andrew remains eighth in line to the throne. He still lives in a royal residence. It isn’t in Windsor. It isn’t royal lodge, the place that he was moved out of. But it is on the royal estate, and I think the questions now for the royal family and particularly for the monarch, his brother, will be how close that relationship is made to seem between the two of them and to the wider public.”

Amanpour asked why Maitlis thought authorities moved on Andrew on Thursday.

“What was the trigger?” she asked.

“There is no question in my mind that when King Charles removed that title from Andrew six months ago last October, when he asked him to leave Royal Lodge, the king was essentially paving the way for the law to take its course. He was essentially saying, I think, to the forces of justice in this country, ‘I don’t want to tie your hands. He’s my brother, but he is no longer untouchable.’

Maitlis added that she did not believe Charles had any advance warning of Thursday’s arrest.

Late Thursday, Andrew was “released under investigation,” British authorities said.

Watch the clip above via CNN.

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