The ending of Prime Video’s adaptation of the infamous Prince Andrew interview, A Very Royal Scandal, follows both Prince Andrew and Emily Maitlis in the months and years after. The third and final episode concludes with Prince Andrew being forced to accept an uncomfortable new reality. Maitlis is unexpectedly catapulted to stardom, which isn’t something she enjoys.
It’s not the first adaptation of the interview. In April 2024, Netflix released their version of events, Scoop, based on the book Scoops: Behind the Scenes of the BBC’s Most Shocking Interviews by former BBC interview booker Sam McAlister. While both tell the same story, there are some subtle differences between the two.
Emily Maitlis Is Now Even More Famous — But It Raises Uncomfortable Feelings
After the bombshell interview is released, it attracts worldwide attention. ABC News, a news organization based in the USA, interviews Maitlis about her interview that rocked the Royal Family to its core, asking her how it feels to bring down a member of the monarchy. The question clearly surprises her, but the camera cuts before she can answer.
On January 8, 2020, Maitlis wins an award for the interview, showing how influential it was. In real life, she would go on to win at the Royal Television Journalism Awards, being named Network Presenter of the Year in February 2020. Someone in the audience jokes about her not mentioning Epstein’s victims in her speech, which clearly gets to her during the car ride home.
Later that evening, she rewatches an interview on YouTube with Virginia Giuffre. Maitlis also finds her son reading horrific comments about her from trolls online, and so explains her job and that these people won’t come after them. Her son brings up her stalker, unsettling Maitlis.
One night, Maitlis confides in her husband about the time she was interviewed about her stalker, and how much she hated it. She somewhat relates that to how Epstein’s victims must feel, having to parade their trauma in an attempt to get justice, and how men like Prince Andrew talk with such arrogance, whether he was guilty or not. Speaking to editor Esme Wren, Maitlis says that for the interview to matter, it has to go to trial.
Prince Andrew Is Assigned Legal and PR Specialists
After his interview, Prince Andrew is assigned a small company of lawyers and PR specialists to protect him from any court matters Giuffre might attempt to bring either in the UK or USA and to try and rehabilitate Prince Andrew’s public image. Andrew is particularly shocked that there’s a slim chance he would be extradited to America to face a court case. In reality, it would take an extreme effort for that to happen, but it’s still a grim thing to hear.
To aid with Andrew’s recovery, he’s forced to attend an event bagging up supplies for a hospice, and have plenty of photos taken. It’s very clear he’s unhappy with the situation. He storms out, demanding to know why the personal hell he created for himself isn’t over. Sir Edward Young, Private Secretary to the Sovereign, reveals he will need updates on the case, and learns Giuffre has civilly sued Prince Andrew for sexual abuse, saying she feared for her life. It’s then followed by Prince Andrew attempting to avoid being served with court documents, which he was accused of doing.
A Very Royal Scandal | Image via Prime Video
A Very Royal Scandal’s Ending and Epilogue
While Prince Andrew is on a walk, his daughter Beatrice represents him at a meeting with his legal team, where Prince Andrew would relay through her his wish to fight the case, or else he would always look guilty. This demand was ignored by Sir Edward Young, who didn’t want to damage the crown. Instead, much to Andrew’s anger, he was forced to settle with Giuffre out of court, which occurred in February 2022. The amount was never disclosed. At the end of A Very Royal Scandal, when Prince Andrew tells Sir Edward he’s unsure what to do, Sir Edward simply says he must live with the consequences of his actions.
That same month, Maitlis resigned from the BBC, saying after 20 years she wanted to try something different, bringing her co-workers Prince Andrew mugs. Indeed, she went on to form a podcast with Jon Sopel, another ex-BBC journalist, but it’s unknown if she ever bought her former co-workers jokey mugs.
The closing epilogue statements catch audiences up to the present day. Prince Andrew settled with Virginia Giuffre with no admission of liability for a private settlement (rumor to be around £12 million) and still retains the Duke of York title (though is currently under pressure to pay costs or move from the Royal Lodge mansion in Windsor). Virginia Giuffre started the charity SOAR in November 2021 to support survivors of sex trafficking and lives in Australia.
Maitlis launched the daily show The News Agents after leaving the BBC and still lives in London. Princess Beatrice was made one of four councilors of state in 2022, allowing her to stand in for King Charles. Ghislaine Maxwell was the only person convicted in the Epstein scandal.
How A Very Royal Scandal Differs From Scoop
When the BBC initially meets with Prince Andrew to convince him to do the interview, in A Very Royal Scandal Prince Andrew asks the three BBC staff, including Maitlis, if any of them have been the victims of abuse. While Maitlis and the others deny being the victims, the rather uncomfortable exchange causes Maitlis to think back to her stalker Edward Vines and causes personal torment at home. This awkward and obtuse question doesn’t come up in Scoop.
During the interview in A Very Royal Scandal, the famous Pizza Express in Woking alibi from the Prince had to be edited in at Amanda Thirsk’s request, causing panic at the BBC that people might realize the footage has been slotted in. This plays out differently in Scoop, with no such panic occurring.
Sir Edward, and Donald McCabe, the Communications Secretary to the Queen, are absent from Scoop, but play an important role in A Very Royal Scandal, cautioning Thirsk to not to try and manage the crisis alone. Sir Edward later fires Thirsk and McCabe, who records the interview for Sir Edward.
Jason Stein, a PR guru hired to try to fix Prince Andrew’s image before Thirsk agreed to the BBC interview, resigned from his role in protest when he found out Thirsk hadn’t set any conditions for the interview appears in Scoop. In A Very Royal Scandal, he has a very brief and testy exchange with the Prince, advising against the interview, before being fired. A Very Royal Scandal also labels his role as Press Secretary, but this wasn’t the case in real life.
Prince Andrew went shooting on the night of the interview in A Very Royal Scandal, implying that he didn’t watch it and was oblivious to the reaction. Thirsk did see the first reactions to the interview, and it’s here she truly realizes how bad the interview was.
The third episode of A Very Royal Scandal goes much further into the future than Scoop, dramatizing Prince Andrew’s meetings with lawyers and Maitlis leaving the BBC. Scoop stops very shortly after the interview aired on the BBC.
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