Prince Andrew "aimed to help" his eldest daughter, Princess Beatrice, when he gave his disastrous Newsnight interview in 2019.
The claim is made by his interviewer, Emily Maitlis, in a new Channel 4 documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, as she speaks of how Princess Beatrice was present for behind the scenes negotiations with the BBC team, producer Sam McAlister and Emily herself.
She was also present when Prince Andrew sat down for the interview itself, as she oversaw what was happening.
And this led Emily to wonder if perhaps Prince Andrew was doing the interview as a way of making amends with his eldest daughter, after years of headlines about his private life.
Emily said: "It’s the first time the thought crossed my mind that maybe he was doing it for her.
"Your life has been hellish. You’ve had to read these headlines. You’re trying to get married. I’m going to do this to make it better for you. I don’t know if that’s true, but it crossed my mind."
One of the programme's producers, Miss McAlister described her shock when Beatrice turned up with the Duke of York to negotiations – thinking his plus-one would be a lawyer.
On the new Channel 4 documentary, she said: "Instead around the corner comes his daughter, Princess Beatrice. That was really quite a curve ball of curve balls.
"Can you imagine being in Buckingham Palace about to talk to a member of the Royal Family about sexual offences? That’s pretty tricky. And now I’ve got to do it in front of his daughter."
She described Princess Beatrice being "anxious" during the interview, and writing things down on a clipboard as negotiations progressed.
Miss McAlister has previously spoken about how awkward she felt about the meeting and the sensitivity of the content, which was discussed in front of Beatrice.
During an interview on This Morning, she said: "The only thing worse than speaking to a prospective interviewee about allegations of sexual impropriety and sex with a 17-year-old girl is having to do so in front of his daughter."
In the interview, Prince Andrew denied ever having had sex with his accuser Virginia Giuffre when she was just 17 years old, as he insisted he was at Pizza Hut with his daughters.
After Virginia claimed that he sweated heavily whilst they were at a nightclub together, Prince Andrew said that during his service in the Falklands War he had a medical condition which meant he "did not sweat".
The interview is being made into a new show on Netflix, with Sex Education star Gillian Anderson playing Maitlis and The Man In The High Castle actor Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew.
Episode one of Andrew: The Problem Prince airs Monday 1st May at 9pm on Channel 4. The second episode airs on Monday 8th May at 9pm. Both episodes will be available to watch on All 4 https://www.channel4.com/ as a boxset.
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