"I reckon that went pretty well, don't you?"
That comment by Prince Andrew to his mother the Queen, following this interview, says more about the unreal world of Royalty than any part of the interview itself.
Almost before Emily Maitlis had signed-off with "Your Royal Highness, thank you", the body-language experts and behavioural psychologists were online, ridiculing the prince, pointing out his obvious mistakes as though he was at school - which raised another issue. No officer of the armed services would ever again believe that a man with so little mental agility could have passed the Staff College exam, let alone the promotion exam for Vice-Admiral. He was no more gold-standard than Prince Harry.
"We weren't that close..." he says of Jeffrey Epstein, clearly trying to distance himself from the stench of child-trafficking. But asked why he then spent four nights in the house where it was all happening, instead of breaking-off relations by phone or email, he says "that would be the chicken's way", if you please, reminding us soon afterwards of his "tendency to be too honourable."
Enough said, I think.