[0:00]Joining us now is UK Barrister and broadcaster and president of Octopus TV, Andrew Ebornne. Andrew, wonderful to see you again. >> It is always a delight to see you, Gabriella.
[0:11]>> The controversy around Prince Andrew is only getting worse. It's now been revealed that Prince Andrew hosted Jeffrey Epstein, Galain Maxwell, and Harvey Weinstein at Royal Lodge, the
[0:22]prince's private home in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Now, it had previously been reported that Epstein, Maxwell, and Weinstein visited Windsor Castle for an event, but not that they had actually
[0:32]been hosted at Andrew's private home. What more can you tell us about this? >> Well, I can tell you, and as I say, it's a tsunami of scandal, which is just not going away. It's getting bigger, if
[0:43]anything. And what it was, it's a Weinstein, Epstein, and Maxwell. They visited uh Royal Lodge, which is where Andrew will eventually be evicted from,
[0:52]thrown out. Uh, and this was all part of Prince Andrew's daughter, Beatatrice. It was her 18th birthday celebration. She had a masked ball. And this picture has
[1:03]emerged from 2006 in which Weinstein, Epstein, and Maxwell are taking part in this. Now, this was 2 months after the US arrest warrant had been issued for
[1:14]Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor. Uh, and he was arrested by police in Florida 8 days after the event. Uh now it previously been reported as you say that they'd visited Windsor Castle
[1:25]for the event but not that they'd gone to Andrew's home. So more and more revelations are coming out as indeed we predicted on this very program. >> I mean what a group when you've got
[1:35]Weinstein Gla Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein. Now an ex- royal staff member has opened up about his time working at Buckingham Palace. Dan Otawway, who served as a chef, claims that out of all
[1:47]of the royals that he catered for, Prince Andrew was difficult and more demanding than others. I mean, he's certainly not getting a good rap. >> He say certainly isn't. Nobody's saying a nice word about him, are they? They're
[1:59]working on that sort of basis. So, what happened? He's he's shared uh this Dan Otterway. He's shared his insights into uh the royal family life. Uh he's now holding a position as an executive chef
[2:09]in a luxury hotel. And what he says is look everybody he loved the royals. He loved serving them for many many years. But Prince Andrew was quite difficult and he was much more demanding of the
[2:20]words that he used uh than his relatives. Uh but he had a lot of praise to Princess Kate. She used to bring the children in after a meal to meet all the staff and be very very grateful uh to say thank you very much. Um but there
[2:31]had been all sorts of revelations about what Fergie would do as well. They would come in and demand they'd have like a whole lamb and uh and a leg of lamb and they would have lots of chicken and and
[2:41]demand that very very late at night. Um and what happened it then got wasted a lot. There was apparently a lot of excess. So there's no love lost between the chef and uh Prince Andrew and and
[2:53]and Fergie. >> Well, there are reports that Prince Andrew has agreed to vacate the royal lodge. However, he wants Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's former UK home,
[3:04]Frogmore Cottage. Not only that, he also wants Prince Williams and Kate Middleton's Adelaide Cottage for Sarah Ferguson. I mean, it seems like a pretty extraordinary demand.
[3:15]>> Well, it's a ghastly game of royal monopoly, isn't it? What's happened? And what they're saying is you've got this enormous place, which you spoke about last time. And he's saying, "Well, if I come out of this, I I I need not just
[3:26]the property for me, but for uh for for my ex-wife as well, because they they live together in Royal Lodge." And that's exactly what they're saying. We want, first of all, we have Prince Harry and Megan's Markle's Frogmore Cottage,
[3:37]as well as uh William and Kate's Adelaide Cottage is what they want. Uh he also apparently wants respect for his two daughters. I understand that. Allowing them to continue their royal work and charity patronages. Um, and he
[3:49]also wants some sort of financial settlement because Ferg is going to need uh a bit of cash as well. So, they're talking about that sort of side. Um, but officially, obviously, stripping Andrew of his royal titles, as I said last
[3:59]week, is was going to require an act of parliament. Uh, and this enormous property that he's in, which has become a massive focus for the general public over here and indeed around the world.
[4:09]It's a 30 room royal lodge and it emerges all the time about the the deal that was done. It's basically a pepperc corn rent which means he hasn't really paid rent for a significant period of
[4:19]time. Uh but what he did do he paid a million pounds up front and then was responsible for all the sort of refurbishments. Uh and that's been quite hefty over that period of time. It's
[4:29]been about 7.5 million was paid in 2005 and there are various expenses uh which have been paid since. Uh but it looks likely that he may agree a deal as long
[4:40]as he gets these two properties. >> Okay. Well, you think about the damage that this has caused the royal family and now Prince William and Princess Katherine are allegedly working hard to
[4:50]uphold the palace's reputation and of course stand by King Charles following this enormous scandal. But you think about all the scandals surrounding the royal family. This is certainly up there.
[5:02]>> Oh, absolutely. And and we pointed out last time Prince Williams being quite ruthless uh about this. He doesn't want anyone to tarnish the crown. And that's
[5:11]exactly what all these headlines screaming every single day are doing. More and more revelations. They were hoping that when uh Andrew turned around and said, "Well, I'll give up my titles
[5:22]and I I won't use them." Uh although it does require, as I say, a more formal procedure to take them away officially, he said he wouldn't use them. But what's happening is uh basically Prince William
[5:31]has got zero tolerance uh towards the Andrews scandal. Uh and as I say, he's pretty ruthless on that sort of basis. uh what he wants to do is basically focus have a solution focused lens. How
[5:43]do we stop this? It's got to be far more ruthless than his father. Uh he was the one of you remember I revealed he sort of stopped Andrew being invited to Christmas. Uh he's now getting more and more trying to distance himself from it.
[5:54]Uh we had that incredibly uncomfortable scene at the Duchess of Kent's funeral when Andrew and Fergie were there and William is trying to distance himself as much as possible uh from him. But that's
[6:05]what's going to happen. He's he's feels as though his father has teetered too long with this sort of kids gloved approach to his [clears throat] younger brother. He's got this scorched earth policy now. That's what he wants.
[6:16]>> There are also concerns that Sarah Ferguson could potentially go rogue and start airing more secrets of the royal family if they are to be exiled from royal life. And insiders believe that
[6:27]Prince Andrew, he's unlikely to say do a Harry and get a book deal. But the same can't be said about Fergie. Andrew, what do you think about this? Is Fergie a big concern?
[6:38]>> Well, I think absolutely. It always used to be the mantra, didn't it? To never complain, never explain. Uh it was a public relations thing. Personal model was the royal family had and the queen,
[6:48]the late Queen Elizabeth famously would follow. That was actually uh attributed to the 19th century Prime Minister Benjamin D. Israeli never complained, never explained. Well, that's been thrown out of the window, hasn't it?
[6:59]Spare will spare us all. Well, Sarah Ferguson now is looking to do a Tell All memoir, and it's not the first one she did. She did one in 1996, the same year
[7:09]that she officially divorced Prince Andrew. It was called My Story, and this was uh basically it detailed her own growing up as a country girl, entering royal life, and the challenges of sustaining her life. Uh she then did
[7:21]another one because that wasn't enough. So, she did one in 2011, uh talking about finding Sarah, a duchess's journey to find herself. Well, it was a journey to find more money. That's what it was
[7:31]trying to do. More more ex exposed and so on so forth. More explosions, more scandalous financial troubles that she had in 2010. We talked about obviously
[7:41]the Prince Andrew Sting where the Sarah was basically offered about half a million to get access to Andrew. All of that came out in this. Well, this is yet another book deal. And apparently publishers are sniffing around and
[7:52]saying, "Well, we might be wanting this sort of tell all." And if she's strapped for cash, she could be very, very tempted to do it. So do watch this space. We'll reveal it all here first.
[8:03]>> Yes, he will. Now look, it's no secret that Prince William intends to shake up the monarchy when he becomes king. But what kind of traditions is he likely to scrap, do you think? >> Well, it's interesting, isn't it?
[8:15]Because he calls it ridiculous and totally outdated words that he uses. He's basically his vision is for a monarchy which is going to be fit for the modern age. So, he's going to purge the pomp, as I would call it. And what
[8:27]he's going to do is there is going to be less pomp, fewer outdated titles and and a stronger emphasis on purpose is what he wants. He's very pragmatic about it. Um, and so a number of these things, let's have a look the outfits, for
[8:38]example. Uh, he can't stand the theatrical side of it, dressing up in all these furs and man and various other things. So, he thinks the elaborate outfits are are outdated and quite frankly ridiculous. So he wants to get
[8:49]rid of that so it doesn't look like a costume drama uh for a pantomime. Where's your career behind you is what they'd say for Andrew. Um but he's going to focus instead on achievement uh not
[8:59]ceremony. Uh and those ceremonial roads so you can get rid of those is what he's saying. In addition to that he's sort of talking about these grand greetings. You might remember Megan Markle with a bowing house. She used to practice the
[9:10]curtsy for the queen where he's going to think getting rid of all of that sort of stuff. Uh so rather have somebody to greet him in the traditional way. Um, also the queen used to do what's called helping, uh, divide her time between
[9:21]several royal estates, much like her, uh, her successor. Uh, King Charles is now does exactly that, but William on the throne, he might be doing less of that is what he's saying. Uh, in addition, they're having a look at other
[9:33]things, monograms, you know, all these sort of wonderful ways of how they communicate. Uh, he he may not be doing that. He might be starting to use his mobile phone. And in fact, the way that he communicates, I can reveal with his
[9:43]staff. He has a WhatsApp group with them rather than these formal carrier pigeons and scrolls. So he's very practical. He wants the system to function smoothly uh
[9:54]but without any trappings. But there is power in pageantry. And I think the reality is a lot of the critics are saying well you don't want to lose too much of it because people like the pomp and circumstance because that's what we
[10:05]associate with the royals. >> Yes. Absolutely. Now, exciting news for us in Sydney. Princess Anne is going to be joined by her husband, Tim Lawrence, on a longhaul royal visit to Australia,
[10:16]and Singapore next month. So, the Princess is expected to undertake a series of military engagements in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane. Andrew, what more can you tell us? >> Well, I say you're taking all our
[10:26]royals, aren't you? They love it down under. [laughter] And I don't blame it. It's glorious. I love your country. So, she's been married to her second husband, Vice
[10:37]Admiral Satim Lawrence, a retired Navy officer for 33 years. And it's going to be the 100th anniversary, that's what it is, Gabriella, of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals. Um, so the king's
[10:47]sister, who she's now 75, she's going to make this long hall overseas visit from the 8th until the 13th of November. So, get on and wave your flags if you'd like to. Um, the princess is basically going
[10:58]to undertake a series of military engagements. That's what they say, as you say, in Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane. It's this 4day tour. Um, and people love uh she's one of the favorite royals over here. She works incredibly
[11:09]hard, but she have a glorious time there. Uh, and also in Singapore as well. >> Now, we are very much looking forward to it. King Charles and Pope Leo have prayed together at the Vatican in a a
[11:21]first really for the leaders of the Church of England and the Catholic Church. Making history, Andrew. >> Well, it is history. And again, as we revealed on this very show, uh, they were going to meet. It was a postponed
[11:32]visit beforehand because the previous pope was not very well. So had a sort of private audience last time but he made history and it was so important incredibly dramatic pictures in the
[11:43]cyine chapel. They were praying side by side a first for leaders of the church of England and the Catholic Church and basically this is stretches all the way
[11:50]back to the reformation. So 500 years uh it's taken for this to happen and there's been music and prayers and uh basically all that sort of stuff. So that's what King Charles wanted to do.
[12:02]He wanted to try and get away if you like from uh the Prince Andrew scandal. And there was but but there was unfortunately no escaping uh the media that the media were there still asking
[12:12]questions about that. And the Pope apparently uh had a little word with him. I can exclusively reveal this as well. He sort of uh he said to King Charles, well, it's a constant hazard having the press here, but they need
[12:23]that in order to get that appropriate coverage. So it's that lovehate relationship, if you like, with the press. They absolutely need it to bump those sort of positive messages. But the public have questions still. So whilst
[12:34]it's a historic event, uh the other matters are still not going to go away. >> No. Now this week also marks 50 years since King Charles visited the Magic Circle headquarters. Following his performance, he was elected to
[12:45]membership of the Inner Magic Circle with Gold Star. Andrew, what can you tell us about this? You're also a member. >> Oh, I am. How glorious is this? So he
[12:54]was a young King Charles. He came along and basically uh 50 years ago uh and he came along he was 26 at the time and the
[13:04]magic societ magic circle is the premier magical society in the world. We have 1,700 members including Pen and Tella and
[13:14]Dynamo and uh David Copperfield and lots of other people even people like racing drivers Nigel Manel is a member. We meet uh regularly and it's all united by a
[13:24]love of magic. But in order to get in, uh, you basically had to do an examination. I'm one of the examiners. Um, I wasn't for Charles. He's a little bit older than me. And what happened is he came along and he did, uh, the famous
[13:35]cups and balls. And he was taught that uh by a friend of his uncle, the uh, Louis Mount Batton, who also had a
[13:45]lovely love and passion for magic. And one of his friends was Commander Robert Pass. and he was basically he'd been uh visiting uh various places and he picked up these wonderful cups and balls which
[13:56]you can see in our museum. Uh and the original ones are there. I I sent you a little photo of that as well which we can go and so members of the public can come along and see these wonderful artifacts and the actual cups as I say
[14:08]were lent to him by commander Robert Depass and he basically as a young sailor he bought them on the streets of Cairo uh whilst he was on shore in 1942. Um so a wonderful memory there. So yes,
[14:19]Charles is celebrating uh 50 years, but the one trick I'm sure he would love to do is to make Prince Andrew disappear because [laughter] you work on that basis. And even when he
[14:30]went down to Lichfield's Cathedral, he he met a very good friend of mine, Sebie Hall, who's uh uh got various disabilities, but he's been uh doing an act of kindness every day for a number
[14:41]of years and raised thousands of pounds for charity. He met uh King Charles and uh it was a wonderful sort of moment. Uh but yes, Charles as a member of the magic circle. Uh we will cherish that
[14:52]and we're delighted uh every time he mentions it. >> Look, finally before I let you go, we have to quickly talk about Meghan Markle. She's apparently reeling after a former friend Victoria Beckham's latest
[15:04]success has put her own efforts under renewed scrutiny. Of course, Megan's not all that happy about uh Victoria Beckham's latest Netflix documentary, and she's apparently shaken by it
[15:16]because of the success around Victoria Beckham's documentary. You know, it's certainly seen as a much bigger success than With Love, Megan. >> Well, it certainly is that she's not just shaken. She's spitting feathers and
[15:28]those edible flowers, as I keep saying. [laughter] She's she's working on that basis. So, what this is is I I was very Netflix being very generous. They invite me to a lot of these premieres. I went to go and see Beckham, which is all
[15:39]about her husband, David Beckham. First of all, this was following on the success of that, and they announced they were going to do one about Victoria. It's it's a wonderful documentary, a three-part series exposing the highs and
[15:50]lows of her career, uh, obviously as a as Spice Girl and the joys of that uh, and the reunion tour, but also, uh, the downfall of her fashion business and how
[16:00]she struggled with that and then built it up to success. So it's a WS and all uh documentary but the success of it uh is exactly that and I think Victoria is
[16:10]sort of turning round. It's whilst uh basically Victoria's documentary didn't eclipse David's one the previous one her scoring have these wonderful scores on a tomato meter. So, this is all to do with
[16:21]Rotten Tomatoes. And apparently B what's what happened is uh Victoria's rating. She's got 44% on the tomato meter and 77% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes
[16:33]compared to Megan's 38% and 33% for season 1 uh of Megan's series and 17% and 27% for season 2. So Megan is indeed
[16:43]shaken by this. There is that rivalry. They were invited to their wedding and so on and so forth, but they fell out a bit because there was a time when they sort of turned around and she thought there were secrets were being revealed
[16:54]and Megan accused apparently accused Victoria of leaking private stories to the press. The accusation proved untrue. It turned out I think it was to a beauty salon or something to do it. But the
[17:05]relationship has been strained ever since and there is that sort of ongoing competition. But the Netflix rating ratings are certainly going to be the final nail in that particular coffin.
[17:15]>> UK barristister and broadcaster and president of Octopus uh TV, Andrew Eorn, thank you so much for joining us. >> Lovely. Yeah, I look forward to seeing you next