TO At first glance it seems like a normal walk in the park of two middle-aged friends, but the image is anything but innocent. The scene that recreates the meeting in New York between the prince Andrea and the billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein was just filmed for the new series A Very Royal Scandal and the images caused some discomfort at Buckingham Palace: Welsh actor Michael Sheen has practically transformed himself into the Duke of York. The resemblance is incredible. But is this a fiction or a docuseries, they ask at court?
That uncomfortable friendship of Prince Andrew with Epstein
The three-part television drama, produced by Amazon, covers the various phases of the friendship between Andrea and Epstein, played for the occasion by the actor John Hopkins. The New York scenes were actually filmed in London, in the Battersea district, and recreate Andrea’s visit to the American entrepreneur shortly after the latter’s release from prison in 2011. Epstein had been convicted of child abuse crimes.
At court they are preparing for new revelations
THE courtier at Buckingham Palace are closely following the footage, including those filmed a few weeks ago, in which the “duke” is present at the wedding of the eldest daughter Beatrice. At the time – on 17 July 2020, in Windsor – Andrea had, however, been excluded from the official photos, as he had already been deprived of his royal duties due to the scandal. In his place and in that of his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson, his grandparents, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip were called.
Prince Andrew and that interview with BBC which he should never have conceded
In the center of A Very Royal Scandal figure the disastrous one interview given by Andrea to the program Newsnight from the BBC in 2019. A conversation which, thanks to the irreverent questions of journalist Emily Maitlis, revealed several inconsistencies in the duke’s version of events. Especially regarding the accusations of sexual harassment by Virginia Giuffre, 17 at the time, who the prince does not remember ever meeting.
Andrea with Carlo at Sandringham, December 2011 (Getty Images)
Michael Sheen has transformed into the prince’s lookalike
Sheen has already been praised on set for how he apparently managed to recreate it correctly Andrea’s way of gesturing with his hands and expressions. The actor, known for his accurate portrayal of Prime Minister Tony Blair, spent months preparing by reviewing recent photographic and video material of the prince. By creating, with the help of a team of hair stylist and make-up artists, a real lookalike. And ending up making the fiction for Buckingham Palace all too realistic.
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