How could the controversial exploits of a member of the most famous family in the world be ignored for decades? That’s one of the questions that Peacock’s new documentary Prince Andrew: Banished seeks to answer. Prince Andrew’s sexual proclivities were often the butt of jokes until his personal friendships with convicted sex traffickers Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell came into view, and this documentary explores how he got away with so much for so long.
PRINCE ANDREW: BANISHED: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?
Opening Shot: Annette Witheridge, a journalist with the British tabloid News Of The World, describes in an interview being tipped off to the fact that Prince Andrew was in New York City on an unpublicized visit in late 2010. Witheridge, a British expat living in the city, describes an all-night search to find him, visiting the prince’s usual haunts including the home of his good friend Ghislaine Maxwell. The next day Witheridge finally located the prince who was staying at the home of Jeffrey Epstein. “At that point I never realized what a scoop I was about to uncover,” she says.
The Gist: Born in 1960, 12 years after his older brother Charles, Prince Andrew has led a life that’s the complete opposite of the now-king. Though the queen had four children – Charles, Anne, Andrew and Edward – the (American) media has typically only ever cared about heir to the throne Charles, and rogue playboy Andrew. You have to love the number of nicknames Andrew has gotten over the years; when discussing him alongside his brother, they refer to them as “the heir and the spare.” When talking about his sexual prowess, he’s been dubbed Randy Andy (one headline also called him a “constant sex pest,” which is terrible but also a pretty funny turn of phrase). And in reference to his frivolous role within “the Firm,” traveling the world as a royal trade ambassador, he has been called Air Miles Andy, racking up travel points on unnecessary trips around the globe.
As a member of the royal family, he has the benefits of a high profile, luxurious life, and yet as the man who will never be king, he has the opportunity to act as he pleases, unburdened to a life of propriety the way stodgy Charles is. Oh, and as everyone in this film will point out, Andrew was the queen’s favorite child and as a result, the family would often turn a blind eye to his poor life choices and bad behavior. (Turns out, that season four episode of The Crown called “Favourites” was really rooted in truth after all.) Simply put, the man has grown up a spoiled brat, his social mores and poor treatment of others allowed to go unchecked for years. That is, until the scandal of his friendships with Ghislaine Maxwell and Jeffrey Epstein were brought to light, and his alleged sexual relations with an underaged girl named Virgina Roberts were exposed.
Andrew and Maxwell’s friendship goes all the way back to the 1990s when Maxwell was a socialite in London and New York, and she was responsible for introducing Andrew to Epstein. The film explores the nature of the threesome’s friendship, even after Epstein was convicted of and served time for having sex with a minor. Not only would Andrew benefit from Epstein’s money, he would also be thrust into the orbit of the young girls Epstein was known for providing to his high profile friends.
What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Look, there’s only so much Jeffrey Epstein content I want to see in my lifetime, but Prince Andrew: Banished is something of a companion piece to Netflix’s Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich if you want a fuller picture of this story. While the latter focuses on all of Epstein’s abuses of money and power, Banished is just yet another component of the story.
Our Take: The first hour or so of Banished is boilerplate “British royal scandal” documentary. If you’ve seen one, you know the formula; various associates, former confidantes, royal employees, and journalists who were kinda, sorta there, who may have heard things or been privy to some details, regale us with their stories about the royal family. One of the weirdest instances of this in this film is the housekeeper who took a photo of all of the stuffed animals arranged on Prince Andrew’s bed so they could be arranged to his liking every day when his bed was made. And we’re talking about adult Andrew, this isn’t something that happened when he was a child. There’s a lot of baggage, a lot of dragging of his character so that it’s clear he’s not a good guy.
The final twenty minutes or so of the documentary is where the real dirt is. This is the portion of the film that outlines the actual sexual misconduct allegations set forth by Virginia Roberts against Andrew, Maxwell and Epstein. You likely already know that Roberts claims that she was forced to have sex with Andrew when she was 17, what’s more infuriating is the way news outlets sat on this information for years, the result of being threatened by the royal family. Good Morning America‘s Amy Robach is shown explaining that rather than breaking the story in a timely way, she was told to bury it because, number one, it wasn’t a big deal because no one knew who Jeffrey Epstein really was back then, and number two, the royals were threatening her “a million different ways.” None of that is especially surprising, just a maddening example of how money and power hinder justice.
And then there’s the Newsnight interview. Much of the end of the film focuses on Andrew’s decision to grant an exclusive interview with Amy Maitlis of the BBC’s Newsnight program to address the sex scandal, which was absolutely disastrous for his image. Unpolished and full of implausible excuses, Andrew hammered the nail in his own coffin with it. The interview also signaled an end of the palace’s own defense of him, and eventually led him to be stripped of his military and royal titles. (If you’re truly invested in this story, or just like watching powerful people suffer live on camera, the entire interview is available to watch on YouTube.)
While there’s some joy in knowing that Andrew has been publicly disgraced and lost his job as an active, working member of the royal family, there’s not much closure to the story knowing he’s still at large and may never truly be punished for his crimes. (He did settle with Virginia Roberts out of court for an undisclosed amount of money in February, 2022.)
Sex and Skin: There’s a decent amount of talk about Andrew’s sexploits, and a few very mild scenes of his former girlfriend Koo Stark’s X-rated film The Awakening Of Emily.
Parting Shot: The documentary ends by revealing that Ghislaine Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role in the Epstein sex trafficking ring, but it also states that she has one year to cooperate with prosecutors and potentially name names if she wants to reduce her sentence. “She is really the person who holds all the secrets,” one lawyer says. Whether or not she gives up damning information about Prince Andrew or anyone else involved in this scandal over the next year will very likely change the course of many people’s lives.
Sleeper Star: I’m not a huge Tina Brown fan; the veteran editor has made a name for herself as an often exploitative tabloid journalist, but I have to hand it to her, she gives good soundbites throughout this film. When referencing a film premiere that was set to include Woody Allen, Jeffrey Epstein, and Prince Andrew, she called it a Predator’s Ball, and later she called Andrew a sideshow and a sad couch potato whose soul was destroyed by his lack of stature within his family. Credit where credit is due, she has solid withering insult game.
Most Pilot-y Line: “Prince Andrew’s world is dirty money, dirty laundry, and dodgy people.” This is a quote from one of the Crown’s royal press officers, Dickie Arbiter. Gotta love when your PR people turn on you!
Our Call: SKIP IT. You probably don’t need this documentary to tell you that Prince Andrew is a shady character whose privilege has shielded him from any kind of real punishment for his misdeeds. Though he has denied any wrondgoing, the documentary paints a picture of a man who used the crown for personal gain, consorted with truly repulsive people, and is very likely a predator himself. I think that says just about all you need to know.