[imagesource: David Abiaw / Shutterstock]

Yesterday, Virginia Giuffre’s first UK interview aired on BBC Panorama, in a special titled The Prince and the Epstein Scandal.

We knew from the clips that circulated last week that Giuffre was sticking to her guns, refusing to budge from her story that she was forced to have sex with Andrew back in 2001, and her interview is just part of what makes The Prince and the Epstein Scandal so damning.

Oh, and you heard the story about the South African-born masseuse sneaking in to see Andrew at Buckingham Palace, right? Old Queenie must be fuming.

Before we get to Andrew ‘raining’ sweat and dancing like an imbecile, here’s the Guardian with the email story:

BBC Panorama said it had uncovered a 2015 email from Andrew to Maxwell asking for help dealing with the allegations by Giuffre, previously Virginia Roberts.

He wrote: “Let me know when we can talk. Got some specific questions to ask you about Virginia Roberts,” to which Maxwell replied: “Have some info. Call me when you have a moment.”

This was just hours after Giuffre had gone public with her claims against Andrew, and has raised many eyebrows for showing how immediately the Duke of York went into damage control mode.

Here’s a clip from the special, where Giuffre describes some of the events of that night:

Here’s another clip from the special, which deals with how Giuffre’s account differs from that of Andrew’s:

Virginia Giuffre says she was trafficked to London for sex with Prince Andrew in March 2001, when she was 17 years old.

The Prince has categorically denied this claim.

So how do their accounts differ?#BBCPanorama pic.twitter.com/TEr3rbCoPT

— Panorama 🌐 (@BBCPanorama) December 2, 2019

I believe her all day, every day over a self-entitled prince who willingly and knowingly associated with a convicted sex offender, whilst operating as though his royal position made him immune from both criticism and the law.

In case you didn’t watch the second clip all the way through, here’s Giuffre’s account of the night she first slept with Andrew:

After they left the club, she claimed, Maxwell told her “that I have to do for Andrew what I do for Jeffrey, and that just made me sick”. She alleges that later that evening, she had sex with Andrew at Maxwell’s house in Belgravia.

She said the alleged sexual encounter started in a bath, but “it didn’t last very long, the whole entire procedure. It was disgusting. He wasn’t mean or anything. But he got up and he said ‘thanks’ and walked out, and I sat there in bed just horrified and ashamed and felt dirty.” The next day, she claimed, Maxwell told her she had done “a really good job”.

Giuffre said it was a “wicked” and “scary” time in her life. “I had just been abused by a member of the royal family.”

She said: “I just didn’t expect it from royalty. I didn’t expect it from someone that people look up to and admire in the royal family … I couldn’t comprehend how the highest levels of the government, powerful people, were allowing this to happen, not only allowing it to happen but participating in it.”

In their review of The Prince and the Epstein Scandal, the Telegraph calls it a “chilling noir-ish journey into a heart of darkness”:

The rawest moments came in Ms Roberts Giuffre’s interview, in which she insisted the infamous 2001 photograph of Prince Andrew with his hand around her waist was authentic. Another Epstein victim, Sarah Ransome, recounted being lured to his private island where Epstein raped her…

The Prince’s assertion that he could not have sweated all over Roberts Giuffre at Tramp’s nightclub in 2001 owing to a physical ailment was juxtaposed with Alan Partridge-esque photographs from the time of Andrew running, sweating and looking silly…

…this was gumshoe journalism of the first order and a chilling adjunct to Andrew’s Newsnight disaster.

Andrew is losing this PR battle, and he’s rapidly losing support amongst a British public growing tired of financially supporting those who act as though they’re above the letter of the law.

The special also revealed that five women have now demanded Andrew give evidence against Epstein, and showed photos of Andrew, Epstein, and Maxwell living it up inside the royal enclosure at Ascot.

Finally, I’m not sure how long this will last online, and the quality isn’t great, but it’s the only copy currently available of the full special:

[sources:guardian&telegraph]