Photographer Says Prince Andrew Thought Infamous BBC Interview ‘Went Really Well’
Photographer Mark Harrison claims that Prince Andrew thought that his disastrous BBC television appearance — where he was asked about his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — “went really well.”
Netflix’s new film Scoop — which recreates the events surrounding the now-infamous royal-career-ending interview given by Prince Andrew, the Duke of York to the BBC’s Newsnight in late 2019 — starts streaming today.
The Duke (played by Rufus Sewell) effectively became a pariah after the catastrophic interview with Emily Maitlis (played by Gillian Roberts) where he vehemently denied claims that he had a sexual relationship with Epstein victim Virginia Roberts.
In an interview with This Morning this week, Harrison, who was the photographer on set for Prince Andrew’s Newsnight appearance, shared new details about the disgraced royal and how he almost turned down the job of his career.
‘I Had One Minute to Decide’
Award-winning photographer Harrison says he got a call about the Newsnight shoot after his friend was unable to do the job.
Harrison, who has previously shot images of Margaret Thatcher, says he almost turned down the gig as he was waiting for the delivery of a dishwasher.
Harrison says that he got a cagey call at 18:30 the night before the BBC interview was due to take place.
“The phone goes and they say ‘Are you free tomorrow?’ in a slightly panicked voice,” Harrison tells U.K. television show This Morning.
“I said it depends what it is because I have a dishwasher delivery coming. They said they couldn’t tell me and that I had one minute to decide if I want to do it.”
The photographer ultimately decided to accept the job after being intrigued by the vague call. Harrison was then told to go to Buckingham Palace the following day in a sharp suit and polished shoes.
‘Don’t Stop Filming Whatever You Do’
Harrison tells This Morning that he felt “like a spy” when he arrived at the royal palace for the job as he had no idea what the shoot would entail: “I don’t know what I’m going to do or why I am there.”
The photographer says that he shot the images before and after Prince Andrew’s interview with Maitlis. The Newsnight crew gave him strict instructions to not stop shooting as they were concerned that the Duke might storm off due to the interview questions being asked.
“I didn’t shoot during the interview. I shot beforehand with Andrew smiling and Emily looking quite serious,” Harrison recalls.
The photographer adds: “[The crew] said don’t stop the filming whatever you do, there’s a chance that Prince Andrew might walk, we don’t know what’s going to happen, whatever you do, get it.”
‘Well, I Think That Went Really Well’
However, on the contrary, Harrison says that the Duke was very pleased with his appearance right after the catastrophic interview.
The photographer took corridor shots of Prince Andrew walking with Maitlis at the end of the interview, although the images were shown at the start of the Newsnight episode.
“[Andrew and Emily] marched up to the end of the room and I asked them to go really slowly and not talk and they’re moving quite fast and [talked],” Harrison tells This Morning.
“We get to the end and [they say] it’s a wrap and that’s when Prince Andrew said “Well, I think that went really well.'”
Image credits: Feature Photo via Netflix
