Prince Andrew told the Queen his bombshell interview with Emily Maitlis on Newsnight was to be focussed on his royal duties and the Pitch@Palace initiative, a shocking new book claims.
The Palace Papers, by author Tina Brown, makes a number of claims about the royals with figures such as Meghan Markle, Prince Harry and the Queen subject to incredible claims.
The Duke of York, it is claimed, told the BBC that they would be able to film the interview in the Blue Drawing Room.
The Queen is then said to have watched the interview alone in her sitting room, unaware that the focus would be on sexual abuse allegations facing Andrew, and his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein, according to the book.
Andrew, 62, settled an out-of-court settlement with Virginia Giuffre in April.
The Queen attended a service for the Duke of Edinburgh alongside her son, Prince Andrew in March.
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Author June Brown claims Prince Andrew told the Queen his bombshell interview with Emily Maitlis would be based on his royal duties.
CHRIS RADBURN
Further shocking claims in the book include a claim that Meghan "hated every second" of a royal tour in Australia.
Author Tina Brown claims the Duchess of Sussex found the engagements to be old-fashioned, and the tour lacked opportunities for her to highlight the issues she cared about.
Prince Andrew reached an out of court settlement with Virginia Giuffre.
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Promoting the book on the New York Times podcast, Ms Brown stated that Harry and Meghan are a "hot headed" couple, something that has loosened ties with the royals further since the couple made the decision to step down from duties.
The author added Harry is an "impetuous man" and the Palace always felt he was likely to leave.
She said that the reasons outlined to her for Harry's departure were "he was so fragile, so combustible, he was so unhappy, frankly, in the constraints of the Royal Family".
Ms Brown added that the couple's departure from royal life was a "disaster all round".
She said: "I actually think there is a Harry-shaped hole in the Royal Family now. And Harry was beloved, actually, by the British people. And people adored Meghan when she came into the mix.
"So it was actually very, very sad for everybody that it went so wrong because they actually need Harry and Meghan now.
"You should see, the Queen is failing, and she’s very frail. They kind of need Harry and Meghan to bring that star power and to be on the balcony at the Jubilee. We have to have a Royal Family up there."
