Lawyer for Virginia Giuffre was ‘thrilled’ at Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview

Prince Andrew’s Newsnight disaster was the perfect gift to Virginia Giuffre because it contained ‘so many provably false things’, her lawyer has said.

Attorney Sigrid McCawley said that the Duke of York’s series of blunders and bizarre defence of his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein in the 2019 BBC interview provided them with a ‘roadmap to tear him apart’.

Within two years the Queen had stripped him of his military affiliations, royal patronages and use of his HRH title and he settled a civil lawsuit brought by Ms Giuffre for a reported £12million ($16.3m).

In the new Channel 4 documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, it is claimed the  Queen realised Prince Andrew’s Newsnight interview was a disaster before he did. He was said to be ‘euphoric’ after the interview – but his mother was far quicker to spot it had been an unmitigated disaster.

And Sigrid McCawley, a member of Ms Giuffre’s legal team, told the two-part show that she had been ‘thrilled’ with the interview.

‘You couldn’t have handed me a better present,’ she added. ‘He said so many provably false things. It was just a roadmap to tear him apart.’

Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed Prince Andrew (right) was ‘euphoric’ after his interview with Emily Maitlis (left) because ‘he thought it had gone really well’

Attorney Sigrid McCawley said that Andrew’s answers had been a gift to her client Ms Giuffre

Andrew settled a civil lawsuit brought by Ms Giuffre (left) for a reported £12million ($16.3m)

In what is widely considered the most disastrous royal interview in history, Andrew claimed he was at Pizza Express in Woking on the night Ms Giuffre claimed he had sex with her when she was 17. 

He also tried to dispel her claims he ‘sweats profusely’ by claiming that being shot at during the Falklands War left him with a condition that means he is unable to perspire. He also suggested a photo of them together at Ghislaine Maxwell’s London mews house was faked.

And defending his decision to stay with Epstein in New York after the financier’s release from prison for child sex offences, Andrew insisted it felt like’ the right thing to do’ and he did so because he was ‘too honourable’ to refuse. 

Critics have argued that the interview had showed how overconfident and out of touch Andrew is. 

Speaking to Channel 4, his interviewer Emily Maitlis revealed that the Queen was handed a transcript of the Duke of York’s appearance on the BBC’s flagship news programme, in which he was questioned about his association with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

Shortly afterwards, the duke was apparently tapped on the shoulder by his security detail and ushered away.

Ms Maitlis revealed she was ‘shocked’ by some of the duke’s responses and described it as ‘a tidal wave of bad answers’.

She said: ‘This is how I know that Prince Andrew is happy with the interview because he stayed chatting. He seemed very jolly.

‘A whole load of people came in and I said, ‘What’s going on?’ They said, ‘OK, Thursday evenings we have the cinema night at the palace. You can stay if you want.’ And at that point, I just thought, ‘I’ve got to get away from here. I needed the space to work out what just happened.’

Andrew came under intense scrutiny following his disastrous interview in 2019 over allegations that Epstein victim Virginia Giuffre was trafficked to have sex with the royal when she was 17.

Former BBC journalist Ms Maitlis said the negative implications of the interview ‘dawned’ on the Queen ‘before they dawned on him’.

The late Queen Elizabeth II realised her second son’s interview with Newsnight was a mistake before he did, a new documentary claims.

Ms Giuffre’s lawyer, Sigrid McCawley, told the documentary that the Newsnight interview gave her client the ‘roadmap to tear him apart’ in the civil claim.

Despite the BBC interview eventually leading to Andrew being stripped of his patronages and military affiliations, former Newsnight producer Sam McAlister claimed the royal was ‘euphoric’ afterwards because ‘he thought it had gone really well’.

One of Prince Andrew’s friends, Irish defamation lawyer Paul Tweed, told the documentary he tried to talk the duke out of giving the interview, The Telegraph reports.

Maitlis went on to reveal how the Queen appeared to realise the gravity of the situation before the duke did.

She said: ‘It was only on the Saturday when the Queen had reportedly read the whole transcript that he had received a tap on the shoulder by his security detail. 

‘And they had said, ‘I think, sir, you might have to come with us.’ It was after the Queen had seen what the interview contained that I think it dawned on her, before it dawned on him.’

Following the BBC broadcast in November 2019 and the furore over Andrew’s friendship with Epstein, the duke stepped down from public life.

Last year, he reached an out-of-court settlement with Ms Giuffre reportedly worth up to 12 million US dollars (£9.6 million) following her civil sex claim against him in the US.

He continues to deny any wrongdoing.

Epstein was found dead in his cell at a federal jail in Manhattan in August 2019 while he was awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges. His death was ruled a suicide.

During the original Newsnight broadcast around four years ago, the duke denied he had had sex with Ms Giuffre, said he had no recollection of ever meeting her and that he had spent the day in question at Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, at a party with one of his daughters.

Ms Giuffre said Andrew sweated heavily as they danced at London nightclub Tramp in one alleged encounter.

The duke told Maitlis his Falklands War service had caused a medical condition, at the time, which meant he did not sweat.

The infamous interview is also being adapted by Netflix, with Sex Education star Gillian Anderson playing Ms Maitlis and The Man In The High Castle actor Rufus Sewell as Andrew.

Ms McAlister revealed to the Channel 4 documentary that the duke had taken his daughter, Princess Beatrice, with him to the final negotiations with the BBC over what should be included in the interview.

Melania Trump, Prince Andrew, Gwendolyn Beck and Jeffrey Epstein at a party at the Mar-a-Lago club, Palm Beach, in 2000

The Duke of York sought permission from the Queen to be questioned about his association with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein, TV presenter Emily Maitlis has claimed

In a new two-part Channel 4 documentary, Andrew – The Problem Prince, former BBC journalist Emily Maitlis (pictured) said the negative implications of the interview ‘dawned’ on the Queen ‘before they dawned on him’

‘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,’ the producer said.

During the negotiations, Ms McAlister and Ms Maitlis said Andrew had asked ‘Should I tell you why I can’t sweat?’ as he sought to explain why Ms Giuffre’s allegations against him were false.

‘I remember thinking ‘Wow, you know, if he says that, that’s it…” Ms Maitlis told the documentary.

Before going ahead with the interview, the presenter said Andrew had told her he had to ‘seek approval from higher up’.

She said: ‘Of course, he’s talking about the Queen.

‘You’re asking your mum if it’s a good idea. This is a decision that’s going right to the top.’

During the documentary, the former BBC journalist said Newsnight had turned down an interview with Andrew three times due to his team attempting to place editorial restrictions on them.

‘Epstein was a red line and we were not to ask about him if we did the interview,’ Ms McAlister said of one of her initial negotiations with the duke’s chief of staff.

Commenting on Newsnight’s earlier decision not to go ahead with an interview after the Epstein restrictions were imposed, Ms Maitlis said: ‘Thank God we dropped the whole thing.

The Duke of York , speaking for the first time about his links to Jeffrey Epstein in an interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis

Princess Beatrice with her husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

‘Because how stupid would we have looked to have done that whole interview knowing that we couldn’t ask about Epstein only to find that he was suddenly front-page news?’

Prince Andrew may have made his disastrous Newsnight appearance in a bid to help his daughter Princess Beatrice, his interviewer Emily Maitlis said yesterday. 

The Duke of York brought his eldest daughter to behind the scenes negotiations with the BBC team behind the interview, journalist Miss Maitlis and producer Sam McAlister.

Miss Maitlis said she thought at the time that he might have agreed to speak in an attempt to make amends with his daughter, who had recently got engaged to her now-husband, Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi.

She told the Channel 4 documentary: ‘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.’

The Duke and Duchess of York with their daughter Beatrice and Eugenie

Producer Miss McAlister said the duke had announced he had brought someone with him to the negotiations, and said she had thought he meant a lawyer.

She told the documentary: ‘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.’

Miss McAlister has previously described how Beatrice took notes on a clipboard at the meeting and appeared ‘anxious’.

The Princess is set to appear in the new Netflix drama which details the runup to the Newsnight interview given by the Duke of York, The Telegraph reports.

Actress Charity Wakefield will star as Beatrice in Scoop, which stars Gillian Anderson as Emily Maitlis, Rufus Sewell as Prince Andrew and Billie Piper as BBC produce Sam mcAllister.

The film follows the book by Sam McAlister, who managed to scoop the bombshell interview about Prince Andrew’s with Jeffrey Epstein, widely believed to have backfired.