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BBC to air interview with Prince Andrew accuser Virginia Giuffre

‘There is only one of us telling the truth’

Zoe Tidman
Monday 02 December 2019 10:29 GMT
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'He knows what happened, I know what happened and there’s only one of us telling the truth' Prince Andrew accuser gives first UK interview

A BBC interview with Virginia Giuffre, the woman who claimed she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew as a teenager, will air on Monday evening.

The Prince And The Epstein Scandal will hear Ms Giuffre telling her story on UK television for the first time after she alleged the Duke of York slept with her three times – twice while under age – and she was trafficked by convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

In a trailer for the Panorama episode, she said: “He knows what happened. I know what happened. And there is only one of us telling the truth.”

Prince Andrew and Buckingham Palace have strongly denied the claims.

The programme follows Andrew’s attempts to defend himself against Ms Giuffre’s accusations and explain his friendship with Epstein in a BBC Newsnight interview were branded a “car crash” and led to him withdrawing from public duties.

During the interview, the duke said an alleged 2001 encounter with Ms Giuffre did not happen as he spent the day with his daughter, Princess Beatrice, taking her to Pizza Express in Woking.

Ms Giuffre alleged the duke sweated heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp.

But Andrew said he had a medical condition at the time, after suffering an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when he was shot at, which meant he did not sweat.

He was widely criticised for failing to show remorse for his association with the disgraced financier, or empathy for his victims.

Ms Giuffre claimed in court papers in Florida that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was aged 17, below the state’s age of consent.

Buckingham Palace has branded the allegations “false and without any foundation”, stating: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors” by the duke was “categorically untrue”.

Reporter Darragh MacIntyre​ will also look into the role of Ghislaine Maxwell, a friend of the duke who has been accused of playing a role in Epstein’s sex trafficking, in the hour-long programme.

The episode will air at 9pm tonight on BBC One.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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