Prince Andrew announced that he would be stepping back from his public duties following his association with businessman and registered sex offender, Jeffrey Epstein, and it has since been reported that he will be moving his royal office out of Buckingham Palace.
The Duke of York's relationship with the multimillionaire, who was being held without bail on charges of sex trafficking girls before his apparent suicide earlier this year, was put into question when footage emerged of him reportedly staying at Epstein’s home in 2010.
Andrew attempted to address the allegations in a one-hour interview with BBC Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis, but it has been widely criticised, with many taking issue with his defence, including his Pizza Express alibi and claims 'could not sweat'.
The Queen reportedly didn’t approve the interview; it has been said that the decision came from Andrew’s office.
Maitlis asked Andrew if he had ever had sex with Virigina Giuffre Roberts or 'any young woman trafficked by Jeffrey Epstein'.
He replied: 'No and without putting too fine a point on it, if you’re a man it is a positive act to have sex with somebody.
'You have to take some sort of positive action and so therefore if you try to forget it's very difficult to try and forget a positive action and I do not remember anything.'
A source has since told the Telegraph that his comments 'left everyone watching it wanting to curl under a table. It just got worse and worse and worse', claiming that Meghan Markle was also left 'troubled'.
Harriet Wistrich, a lawyer at the Centre for Women’s Justice, added: 'This clearly suggests a very sexist stereotypical view of sex as something men do to women.
'It also makes no sense as to why it would be more likely you would remember it. The whole sentence – and interview – has no authenticity about it.'
