Review
Andrew: The Problem Prince review – a deliciously
vicious reminder of the dire state of the monarchy
This gripping documentary unpacks the dodgy truth
about the king’s paedophile-affiliated brother. Is this really the sort of
thing you want to pledge allegiance to?
Lucy Mangan
@LucyMangan
Mon 1 May
2023 22.00 BST
Context is
all, they say. And when you broadcast a documentary about the king’s
paedophile-affiliated brother five days before the former’s coronation, they
may be right. Context is certainly the greatest ally of Channel 4’s Andrew: The
Problem Prince. It is based on an anatomisation of the before, during and after
of the now and probably for ever infamous interview that Prince Andrew gave to
Emily Maitlis on Newsnight in 2019. I know. Four years ago. And still the
memory of him claiming to be unable to sweat as a result of trauma in the
Falklands, and taking the kids to Pizza Express in Woking on the evening he was
alleged to be having sex with a trafficked 17-year-old, is as crystal-clear as
it ever was. Time has not done its gentle work. If it catches you unawares, you
still jack-knife unstoppably in horror as it unleashes all the rest of its
vicarious humiliation. “It was a convenient place to stay.” “A very ordinary
shooting weekend.” “I’m too honourable.” Amazing.
The same
disbelief clearly still attends the even more extensive recollections of
Maitlis and her producer, Sam McAlister. The latter received the first approach
from Amanda Thirsk, the prince’s chief of staff, in 2018, which was before
Jeffrey Epstein – though by then a convicted sex offender – had come into UK
public consciousness. When Newsnight declined the offer of what was essentially
a puff piece, word came back that they were open to “a wider discussion”. He
would talk about anything except his friendship with Epstein. Newsnight didn’t
fancy being dictated to, so declined again. “Best decision ever,” says
McAlister. It is clear that, quite rightly, the joy will never leave her. The
prince and the “playboy” – AKA
man-arrested-for-20-years-of-sex-trafficking-in-plain-sight – became headline
news and Andrew became determined to use the interview to clear his name. It is
not overtly stated but it is obvious that from then on, the main task of
McAlister and Maitlis was to tread softly and not shatter the man’s illusions.
Others
tried to – notably Andrew’s lawyer Paul Tweed, a twitchy man quick to affirm
his advice to the prince to say nothing to no one about nothing, nothing at all
– but the hubristic heart wants what it wants. Andrew went on telly and told
everyone everything about all of it.
Various
talking heads explain the man and his decision, first to become close to
Epstein and then to chat about it on national television. The former press
secretary to the queen Dicky Arbiter and the royal correspondent Valentine Low
limn the extra-privileged childhood as the queen’s favourite, the inescapable
resentment at being the spare not the heir, and the compensatory pleasures of
being a handsome young prince about town (“Girls on tap,” explains Dickie,
succinctly) without having to worry about his reputation too much.
The most
powerful testimony, though, is wordless and comes from contemporary footage of
him in interviews. The easy charm (if you allow for 80s social mores) of the
twentysomething prince being interviewed by/flirting with Selina Scott curdles
into something more smug over the years until you can see the monstrous
entitlement lurking beneath, threatening at any moment to break the bounds of
decorum. The trade envoy years showed there was no beginning to his talents,
and when he was stripped of his titles by the queen after pictures of him
strolling through Central Park with a post-conviction Epstein hit the papers,
Low (deliciously viciously) points out that this is bound to hit a man “without
a hinterland … no rich inner life” particularly hard. Whatever judgment or
willingness to take advice he might have had was eroded further, and his loss
was Maitlis’s gain.
This is not
a documentary in which Epstein’s victims are central, and the claims of
Virginia Giuffre about having to have sex on three occasions with the prince
are only just given enough attention here, most of it in the second episode.
What saves Andrew: The Problem Prince – although it’s still a close-run thing –
from being an unforgivable media masturbatory session, allowing the people
involved with the interview to cover themselves in further glory and
pontificate about the power of journalism to hold the privileged and protected
to account, is the proximity of its broadcast to the coronation. It reminds us
all that the monarchy contains and tolerates the likes of the Duke of York. He
isn’t the first dodgy royal and he won’t be the last. That’s how they roll, and
Charles would like us to pledge public allegiance to it. Good luck with
that, fella. Good luck with that.
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