I found myself shouting at the television throughout Prince Andrew’s interview. The brave women who, against all odds, found ways to speak truth to Epstein’s power were barely mentioned by him. The painful experiences of girls as young as 14 who were exploited, trafficked and abused were simply erased.
He expressed no empathy or compassion and he offered no apology or regret for maintaining his relationship with a convicted sex offender. It seemed to me fairly low-risk to condemn a dead paedophile. He didn’t even have to tell the truth about his own involvement in order to do so.
There was even a moment where Emily Maitlis offered, ‘You could not spend time around [Epstein] and not know.’ The prince countered that he lives in Buckingham Palace and so he assumed the girls at Epstein’s house were staff. Horrifying as this is, disregard for women is certainly part of the context in which abuse happens and goes unchallenged.
What Prince Andrew didn’t seem to understand is that, by continuing to have a relationship with Epstein after he was convicted, he gave him credibility and cover. Whether or not Andrew committed any crimes himself, providing cover effectively makes him complicit in the crimes that were committed. And for that reason alone he owes each of those women an apology and a shot at justice.
Prince Andrew’s announcement last week that he would be stepping back from royal duties was clearly written by somebody who understood that better than he did. This time it expressed regret, sympathy and a willingness to cooperate with the FBI investigation. But here’s the thing: it should never have relied on a botched interview for that to happen. This is crisis comms, not justice.
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