A year ago today, the country gathered for an interview with bated breath, as Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis was allowed into Buckingham Palace to interview Prince Andrew about his associations with convicted paedophile, Jeffrey Epstein.
It was a time before Prime Ministers announcing lockdowns, Barnard Castle was just a tourist attraction and the concept of Megxit didn’t exist. In the year since that interview, so much has changed for this world and our lives. But how much has changed for Prince Andrew?
Memes about sweating aboundedand Woking’s Pizza Express was besieged by journalists. It seemed that after this interview, in which he admitted recently meeting the now-arrested Ghislaine Maxwell and he claimed he didn’t regret his friendship with Epstein because it had ‘some seriously beneficial outcomes’, something big was going to happen.
And yet while something big happened to the world, not much seems to have happened to Prince Andrew of consequence in 2020. Save for a few embarrassments, like occasional twitter jokes, or nudge nudge references in The Crown.
Speaking about the interview which won her an award at the Royal Television Society, Emily Maitlis told The Guardian: ‘It has taken three weeks for my shoulders to finally drop. Three weeks to absorb that the interview we did that day may yet have the power to change the lives of Epstein’s victims. Three weeks of headlines and blanket coverage. Three weeks to realise that questions about the clock and the tie knot and the meaning of a glance or a gesture will continue and ultimately overtake us.
‘What began with a plan, a hunch and a Newsnight huddle now has a life of its own. It is no longer ours. It belongs somewhere bigger.’
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At the time, it seemed impossible that the ‘bigger’ wouldn’t involve at least some questioning or summons of Prince Andrew - who vehemently denies any wrongdoing - by American law enforcement.
And yet a year on, here we are.
Virginia Roberts Guiffre claims she was instructed by Epstein and Maxwell to have sex with Prince Andrew between 2001 and 2002, three times. Buckingham Palace deny these claims and says they’re ‘false without foundation’.
In his interview with Maitlis, Prince Andrew infamously claimed a picture of them together must’ve been fake because ‘when I would go out in London, I wear a suit and a tie.’
However, some have repeatedly called for Prince Andrew to be extradited.
READ MORE: Prince Andrew Interview: ‘The Victims Were Simply Erased…’
Shortly after his interview, he said he was ‘willing to help any appropriate law enforcement agency.’
When Ghislaine Maxwell was arrested in the summer by the FBI on charges of sex trafficking and perjury, it was claimed there were renewed calls for Prince Andrew to assist with the investigation.
Acting US attorney Audrey Strauss said she would ‘welcome’ Andrew to talk to the authorities, and that ‘our doors remain open’ for him to go to the US and make a statement as a witness.
But at the time, a source close to the royal’s working group said: ‘The Duke’s team remains bewildered given that we have twice communicated with the DOJ [US Department of Justice] in the last month and to date we have had no response.’
The BBC has also reported US authorities submitted a ‘mutual legal assistance’ request to the Home Office although this has not been confirmed by the US Department of Justice or the UK Home Office.
The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the US Department of Justice.
Under the terms of a MLA, if Andrew does not respond of his own accord, he could be called to a UK court and questioned.
Prince Andrews representatives had previously said: ‘The Duke of York has on at least three occasions this year offered his assistance as a witness to the US Department of Justice.
‘Unfortunately, the DoJ has reacted to the first two offers by breaching their own confidentiality rules and claiming that the duke has offered zero co-operation. In doing so, they are perhaps seeking publicity rather than accepting the assistance proffered.’
Following the MLA, the duke's lawyers described the request as ‘disappointing’ because the Duke of York was ‘not a target of the DoJ investigation and has recently repeated his willingness to provide a witness statement’.
When it comes to public life, Prince Andrew claimed he was stepping away from royal duties – just this week there were rumours he was ready to return,before sources told The Mailthat it was unlikely he’d ever work as a Royal again officially. This month it was noted that he didn’t join the rest of the Royal Family at the Cenotaph on Remeberance Day.
But his 60th birthday in February proved he was still very much part of the family. The Royal Family posted on social media and the bells of Westminster Abbey chimed for him in keeping with tradition – though councils were told they no longer have to fly flags for his birthday.
A year on, and like many things in 2020 then, it seems the full extent of the fallout from the Prince Andrew interview has been put on ice. Whether the investigation and his involvement has stalled, or whether this quiet retirement from public life is the end of the conversation with it comes to Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein, is yet to be seen.