Even if you’re not a member of a royal family – and even you’re never classified as a disgraced former prince – massive lessons have become clear to all about the consequences of doing bad media interviews.
The lessons are provided for us by the man once known as Prince Andrew, Duke of York.
The learning points have suddenly become ever-more apparent in late 2025 following on from the prince’s infamously atrocious interview performance with the BBC’s Newsnight programme back in 2021 with journalist Emily Maitlis.
Rather than closing down the allegations against Prince Andrew regarding his sinister friendship with the dead U.S. paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – and stories about his sexual abuse of the young American woman, Virginia Giuffre, who has since taken her own life – the prince’s bad interview answers drew ever-greater attention to his past misbehaviour.
The then-prince’s denials were immediately seen as lacking credibility and were widely criticised for not showing any empathy with – or sympathy for – victims of the sex trafficking operations run by Epstein and his now jailed accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.
At the time of the interview there were indications that Prince Andrew – and some members of his team – had mistakenly judged that it had actually gone well.
However, the then reigning queen Elizabeth The Second – and the now reigning King Charles The Third – took a very different view.
In the wake of growing public pressure fuelled by the TV interview, and revelations subsequently arising from it, the king’s view of his brother’s misbehaviour has become increasingly severe.
The ex-prince’s withdrawal from royal life has now been thrust upon him by the monarch.
This coincided with newly revealed email traffic showing that Prince Andrew’s claims that he’d called off his contact with Jeffrey Epstein actually continued long after the prince declared on TV that it had ended.
Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor has now been “defrocked” as a prince and can no longer use of the title of “Duke of York” – with various other positions and titles, acquired due to accident of birth, being removed.
The lessons arising for the man to be known officially as Mr Andrew Mountbatten Windsor – and for the rest of us – include:
1. In every media interview you should only speak exact truths
2. If you have done serious wrongs, you’re better off to admit to them and fully apologise – rather than tell lies and/or only make partial grudging admissions
3. Always, always, always express appropriate concern for victims when questioned about them – whatever role you may or may not have played in causing their pain
4. You will perform much better if you get high quality media interview response training in advance – including practices, playbacks and critiques of your performances before it’s too late.
The Prince Andrew story began long before the Newsnight interview, with him reportedly doing a lot of bad things which he is still denying, albeit with diminishing credibility.
At the time of the interview, many of Prince Andrew’s answers looked decidedly dodgy.
As a reminder, take a look at the following excerpt where Prince Andrew denied having met Virginia Giuffre who said she was forced to have sex with him on several occasions.
He was widely mocked for his dismissal of her claims that he sweated profusely while dancing with her.
Prince Andrew’s laughable “evidence” that he was unable to sweat was immediately disproved by pictures circulating on the internet.
Have a close look at this picture, on the popular website “Reddit”, of Prince Andrew appearing to be doing exactly what he claimed to be unable to do!
Have a think about Prince Andrew’s credibility as you check out this short extract from the Newsnight interview.
But revelations since the 2021 interview have made the then prince’s answers appear dodgier still.
You can watch the whole of the Newsnight interview here.
Meanwhile, on much cheerier matters, more information is becoming available about the Michael Dodd 2026 Australia speaking tour!
The information is for companies in Australia – and for those elsewhere in the world which may desire sessions for your teams or individuals on “Give Great Answers To Tough Questions” in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane or surrounding areas – between 20 March & 10 April 2026.
Check out the video about the tour here…
For those interested in arranging sessions for teams and any individuals in Australia, please email your enquiries to: michael@michaeldoddcommunications.com
Be aware that there is a longstanding myth that water circulating down plugholes in the two hemispheres goes in different directions.
Please rest assured that the Michael Dodd Communications golden formulae for giving great answers to tough questions work in exactly the same way anywhere on the globe!