Good Morning Britain presenter Morgan kicked off the questioning and asked: “What is your reaction to that interview?” Referring to the BBC Newsnight interview Prince Andrew took part in.
“He knows the truth and what he really did,” Mr Roberts replied. “I’ve seen the interviews, him denying everything, but apparently he’s not telling the truth and most of Britain knows that.
“I feel so sorry for my daughter, everything she went through at the time. I had no idea, everything she went through at the time she was going through it, I had no idea. I love my daughter very much and she is really brave to be going through all this and come up against these powerful people,” the guest continued.
Reid continued: “It must be very hard as a father to hear these allegations, to hear her talk about what she was forced to do and to see her in tears as she talks about it. What impact has it had on you? And What message would you like to give your daughter?”
“Well, I’d really like to tell her to stay strong and safe to begin with because these are powerful people she’s dealing with – it’s not just Prince Andrew it’s several others too that she has allegations against,” Mr Roberts explained.
“I know she’s telling the truth, my daughter is a good girl, she really is. Like I say, I wish I’d have know all this stuff was going on but I didn’t.
“As a parent you ask the question ‘how do you not know that your children are doing this?’
“But she’s a very good actress – when she would come home from these trips, she said nothing about it. And it must have been killing her inside for powerful people like that, they can threaten a young girl like that. These girls are young, they really don’t know what’s going on with these powerful people,” he continued.
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‘Prince Andrew is NOT telling the truth’ Virginia Giuffre’s dad hits out at royal ‘He has everything (Image: BBC • ITV • GETTY)
“I’m glad she’s out of it and fighting back. We’re very proud of her,” GMB viewers heard Mr Roberts say.
“Mr Roberts, let me ask you, when did she first tell you she had this liaison with Prince Andrew?” Morgan asked.
“I never talk to my daughter about that,” he replied. “I only seen it on the news and what I read in the papers and things like that. It’s not something you talk about with your daughter, I mean she is probably not comfortable talking to me about it because of what happened.
“But she knows I know and like I say I feel really sorry all of this happened, it did happen and Prince Andrew should pay for it,” Mr Roberts remarked.
GMB: Morgan and Reid interviewed Mr Roberts (Image: ITV)
“It will come down to – for some people – of a question of who you believe. Do you believe Prince Andrew who emphatically denied having sex with your daughter, in fact said he couldn’t recollect ever meeting her, despite the photograph we keep showing,” Morgan commented.
The GMB presenter continued: “Or there’s your daughter, who last night, gave a very powerful testimony about what she says happened, detailed and very shocking. You know your daughter better than any of us, do you have any doubt she is telling the truth?”
“I have no doubt at all she is telling the truth. I’ve seen the interviews with Prince Andrew and it just shows to me and most of Britain he is not telling the truth,” Mr Roberts remarked.
“She has no reason to not tell the truth about this and he has every reason to deny it, because him being a royal and what he’s done – these are young girls these are kids! He has young daughters, what if it was his daughter?” He added.
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GMB: Mr Roberts said he believed his daughter was telling the truth (Image: ITV)
In a brief clip issued by the BBC ahead of the programme, Ms Giuffre says: “He knows what happened, I know what happened. And there’s only one of us telling the truth.”
Prior to his interview with Maitis, Andrew – who has strongly denied claims he had sex with Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre (nee Roberts) when she was 17 – had only released prepared statements through Buckingham Palace’s press office.
Buckingham Palace said previously: “Any suggestion of impropriety with underage minors is categorically untrue.
“It is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of sexual contact with Virginia Roberts. Any claim to the contrary is false and without foundation.”
And during his interview with BBC Newsnight, Andrew reiterated his denial.
Maitis asked: “Is it possible that you met Virginia Roberts, dined with her, danced with her in Tramp, had sex with her on another date?”
“No,” Prince Andrew replied.
“Do you remember meeting her at all?” Maitis continued and Prince Andrew stated: “No.”
“Do you know you didn’t meet her or do you just not remember meeting her?” The interviewer said.
Prince Andrew replied: “No, I have…I don’t know if I’ve met her but no, I have no recollection of meeting her.”
“Because she was very specific, she described the dance that you had together in Tramp. She described meeting you, she was a 17 year old girl meeting a senior member of the royal family,” Maitis remarked.
“It never happened,” the royal commented.
“But you can say categorically that you don’t recall meeting Virginia Roberts, dining with her?” Maitis said later in the interview.
“Yep,” Prince Andrew said and Maitis continued: “Dancing with her at Tramp?”
“Yep,” Prince Andrew repeated.
Maitis added: “Or going on to have sex with her…”
“Yes,” he said once more.
“…in a bedroom in a house in Belgravia?” Maitis probed.
“I can absolutely categorically tell you it never happened,” the royal added.
“Do you recall any kind of sexual contact with Virginia Roberts then or any other time?” Maitis asked.
“None whatsoever,” Prince Andrew replied.
“Because she said in a legal deposition, a legal court document in 2015, she had sex with you three times. She is not confused about this. She said the first was in London when she was trafficked to you, the second was at Epstein’s mansion in New York,” the journalist continued.
“That is a date in April I believe, is that correct?” Prince Andrew clarified and Maitis responded: “She said it was a month or so later.”
“Yeah, well I think that the date we have for that shows that I was in Boston or I was in New York the previous day and I was at a dinner for The Outward Bound Trust in New York and then I flew up to Boston the following day and then on the day that she says that this occurred, they’d already left to go the island before I got back from Boston. So I don’t think that could have happened at all,” the royal replied.
READ THE FULL BBC NEWSNIGHT INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPT HERE
Good Morning Britain airs weekday mornings at 6am on ITV.
