Prince Andrew regrets not denouncing what he argues is a “fake photo” of himself and Virginia Giuffre during his disastrous Newsnight interview.
The prince was advised by Buckingham Palace not to claim that the image of him and Giuffre was digitally altered because it could not be proven.
The widely published photo of Andrew with his arm around 17-year-old Virginia Giuffre has come to symbolise the case against the duke.
During the 2019 interview the prince argued that he had “no memory of that photograph ever being taken” and he denied ever meeting Giuffre.
Prince Andrew regrets not denouncing this photo as 'fake.'
In 2022, Andrew reached a no liability settlement with Giuffre over her allegations against him.
The Duke of York has always strongly denied any wrongdoing in the case.
Now the duke feels it was “the biggest mistake he ever made in his life” to not denounce the photo as being fake, according to The Times.
GB News has contacted the Duke of York's team for comment.
Prince Andrew claims that the image was digitally manipulated and even tried to persuade the Queen of his case.
Prince Andrew at a party on February 12, 2000 with Jeffrey Epstein.
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A source said that the duke was “quite agitated” before the interview because his royal aides gave him “marching orders” to avoid talking about forensic analysis of the image.
However, during the 2019 interview, Prince Andrew questioned the authenticity of the photo stating: “Nobody can prove whether or not that photograph has been doctored.
“From the investigations that we’ve done, you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not because it is a photograph of a photograph of a photograph”.
He also questioned whether the hand around Giuffre’s waist was his own and argued that he would never have worn the clothes in the image taken in London because they were his “travelling clothes.”
In 2022, Andrew reached a no liability settlement with Giuffre.
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The duke claimed he has “no memory of that photograph ever being taken.”
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Prince Andrew’s friends have also questioned the photo stating there is “something decidedly wrong about it.”
In October 2019, an unnamed forensic expert told the Times that it was “weird” that Giuffre was wearing the same outfit with Andrew as in a photo at a birthday party for Naomi Campbell in May 2001, two months after the duke and Giuffre were meant to have met in London.
However, Johanna Sjoberg, a victim of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, said she witnessed the duke and Giuffre together.
Following the interview, the duke was forced to step down as a working member of the Royal Family and was stripped of his military titles and royal patronages titles but kept the Duke of York title.