Prince Andrew is reportedly standing by his decision to do what turned out to be a widely

criticized interview about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

The Prince sat down for a rare interview with Emily Maetless for the News Night program

at our partners, the BBC. The Prince denied allegations he had sex with a 17-year-old girl

who says she was trafficked by Epstein, and he discussed his friendship with Epstein who died in

August in a jail in New York City. Do I regret the fact that he has quite obviously

conducted himself in a manner unbecoming? Yes. Unbecoming? He was a sex offender?

Yeah, I'm sorry, I'm being polite in the sense that he was a sex offender. But no,

was I right in having him as a friend at the time, bearing in mind, this was some years before,

he was accused of being a sex offender. There was anything wrong then. The problem was the fact

that once he had been convicted. You stayed with him? I stayed with him. And that's the bit that

as it were, I kick myself for on a daily basis, because it was not something that was becoming

of a memorable role family. Emily Maetless joins us now in her first US interview since her

interview with Prince Andrew, which aired Saturday. Emily, good morning, thanks for being with us.

Morning, my pleasure. In the headlines in the British press, this interview is being called a

train wreck and a catastrophic error. Why do you think the Prince agreed to do it?

Well, I think to be fair that what we got from Prince Andrew was authenticity. And there are many

figures that come onto the television or give interviews to the press who tend to be peered to

distraction. Everything is very carefully worded and there is no wriggle room with anything they say

to ask anything else. And this was a different kind of interview. We saw an authentic side to the

Duke of York. There were words that I'm guessing he might want to have rephrased. You heard some of

them in the clip that you just played. But this was essentially a man who was engaging with every single

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