Prince Andrew has been speaking to Newsnight presenter Emily Maitlis about his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein
The Duke of York says it was the "wrong thing to do" to stay at the convicted sex offender's home in New York
The prince says he has "no recollection of ever meeting" Virginia Roberts - now Virginia Giuffre - who says she was forced to have sex with him
He says he was at home with his children on the night it is alleged he had sex with Virginia Giuffre
If "push came to shove" the prince says he would testify over allegations regarding his conduct and his links to Jeffrey Epstein
Epstein, 66, took his own life in August while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges
Ms Maitlis observes that a four-day house party might seem like a funny way to break off a friendship.
The prince says that is a stark way of putting it, but that she is right. He adds that, in truth, he only saw Epstein for a dinner, the walk in Central Park and when “passing in the passage” at the financier’s home.
Questions now turn to the activity in and around Epstein’s home during the prince’s visit in December 2010.
It is put to him that many young girls were seen around the mansion at the time and that another guest, literary agent John Brockman, said the prince was seen receiving a foot massage from a young Russian woman there.
The prince is asked: “Did that happen?”
Prince Andrew says he is absolutely sure he did not receive a foot massage from a young Russian woman while staying at Epstein’s home.
He says the house was “almost as a railway station… in the sense that there were people coming in and out of that house all the time”.
He adds: "What they were doing and why they were there I had nothing to do with. So I’m afraid I can’t make any comment on that because I really don’t know."
Jonny Dymond
BBC royal correspondent
Prince Andrew seems unable just to say – I got this wrong, sorry.
Instead he talks about staying with Epstein being wrong "with the benefit of hindsight", and that he did the wrong thing for the right reason because he is "too honourable".
It’s a pretty odd way to apologise.
The prince adds that, at the time, he thought visiting Epstein to break off the friendship was the “honourable and right thing to do”.
“I admit fully that my judgement was probably coloured by my tendency to be too honourable but that’s just the way it is,” the prince says.
Prince Andrew responds by saying Epstein’s Manhattan home was a “convenient place to stay”.
He says that he has thought about this many times and with hindsight now believes it was wrong to stay at Epstein’s home.
Emily Maitlis says she is confused by the prince’s account of the December 2010 visit so far.
She says she wonders why he stayed at Epstein’s home for several days despite claiming he went to see the convicted sex offender to break up the relationship.
Jonny Dymond
BBC royal correspondent
Our correspondent pinpoints this as the interview's first important point – how could the prince not see what was going on at Epstein’s houses?
"No indication," says Andrew, "no indication".
It is put to the prince that he was effectively a guest of honour at a party thrown to celebrate Epstein’s release.
The prince says that there was not a party to celebrate Epstein’s release in December 2010, but instead he attended a small dinner party at that time.
He says there were only around eight or 10 people there.
Asked whether the Queen was involved in his decision to stay at Epstein’s home in 2010, the prince strongly denies Her Majesty was aware.
He says advice came from his staff, friends, and family he was talking to. The prince adds that he took the decision “to show leadership”.
Image source, News SyndicationThe picture of Prince Andrew and Jeffrey Epstein in Central Park in December 2010
The prince says that his final conversation with Epstein, in which the pair agreed that they would not see one another again, was captured by a photographer.
A now iconic image shows the pair walking in Central Park.
The prince says he said to Epstein during the walk: “Look, because of what has happened I don’t think it is appropriate that we should remain in contact”.
He says he left Epstein’s home the next day. “I never had any contact with him from that day forward,” he adds.
The prince says he made a judgement call to visit Epstein after the financier’s release from prison despite receiving advice not to go.
He says he visited at a time when he had other appointments in New York.
The Duke of York tells Newsnight he had 'absolutely no indication' at the time of Jeffrey Epstein's trafficking activities in the United States.
The prince says that ever since his visit to see Epstein in New York in December 2010 has become public knowledge he has questioned himself “as to why did I go and what was I doing and was it the right thing to do?”
He says he visited Epstein with the sole purpose of saying to him that, because he had been convicted, it was inappropriate for the pair to be seen together.
Epstein was released from prison in July 2010. Emily Maitlis says the Prince travelled to New York to stay with him in December that year.
“Why were you staying with a convicted sex offender?” she asks.
Questions turn to Epstein’s first conviction in 2008 of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution.
Emily Maitlis says: “He was jailed. This was your friend. How did you feel about it?”
The prince says he ceased contact with Epstein later in 2006 once he became aware the financier was under investigation.
The prince adds the situation meant he could not see Epstein. “No contact,” he says.
Emily Maitlis says that in May 2006 an arrest warrant was issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor.
She adds that, two months later, Prince Andrew invited Epstein to the 18th birthday of his daughter, Princess Beatrice, at Windsor Castle. “Why would you do that?” she asks.
The prince says the invitation for Epstein came by way of the financier’s girlfriend Ghislane Maxwell, with whom the prince was close friends.
He says he wasn’t aware when the invitation was issued what was going on in the United States.
And Epstein never spoke to him about the arrest warrant.
The prince is asked directly whether, during his stays at Epstein’s homes anything struck him as suspicious.
The prince says: “Nothing.”
He admits to staying on the financier’s private island and travelling on Epstein’s private plane.
Emily Maitlis says that it is now known that at the time of the shooting weekend at Sandringham in 2000, Epstein “had been procuring young girls for sex trafficking”.
The prince says “at the time there was no indication to me or anybody else that that was what he was doing”.
He adds that was also true when he visited Epstein in the United States and when he was staying at the financier’s houses. The prince adds that his work as patron of the NSPCC’s Full Stop campaign against child cruelty meant that he “knew what the things were to look for” regarding abuse.
Emily Maitlis highlights how Prince Andrew personally invited Epstein as a guest to Windsor Castle and to Sandringham in 2000. She adds that Epstein “was brought right into the heart of the Royal Family at your invitation”.
The prince responds by saying Epstein was invited because he was the boyfriend of the prince’s friend Ghislaine Maxwell.
On one occasion, he says, Epstein and Maxwell were invited to a shooting weekend at Sandringham, the Royal Family’s estate in Norfolk.
Turning to the description of his relationship with Epstein, the prince is asked whether he would describe him as a good friend. Emily Maitlis asks: “Did you trust him?”
The prince says he probably did.
“I’m an engaging person, I want to be able to engage, I want to find out, I want to learn,” he says.
At the time he first met Epstein, he says, he was transitioning out of an “isolating” Navy career into a role as a special representative for international trade and investment.