Prince Andrew seen out riding as Netflix drama Scoop is released

The Duke of York was photographed riding a horse in Windsor on Friday as the Netflix dramatisation of his 2019 Newsnight interview was released.

Prince Andrew, who is played by Rufus Sewell in Scoop, smiled and waved to onlookers as he rode a black horse with a female companion on Friday morning.

The film stars Gillian Anderson as ex-BBC journalist Emily Maitlis, Billie Piper as producer Sam McAlister and Keeley Hawes as Amanda Thirsk, the Duke’s private secretary.

It tells the story of the interview and its aftermath and is set to rival the three-part Amazon series A Very Royal Scandal, which will star Michael Sheen as Prince Andrew and is still in the works.

Scoop is based on Ms McAlister’s account of the interview in a book called Scoops, whereas Emily Maitlis is the executive producer of A Very Royal Scandal.

In the interview, Prince Andrew said he did not regret his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein, by then a convicted paedophile who died while in jail before he went on trial for sex trafficking minors, because it was “actually very useful”.

It also prompted headlines about his visit to Pizza Express in Woking, his inability to sweat, and a claim that he was “too honourable”.

The Duke stepped down from public duty shortly afterwards and has not returned since.