Why didn’t the BBC ask Prince William about Andrew?
The News Agents
Global
4.1 • 5.4K Ratings
🗓️ 18 February 2026
⏱️ 40 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Prince William gave an interview to BBC Radio 1 to talk about men’s mental health and the importance of speaking out. It’s a vital topic - and it affects millions of people.
What was noticeable, however, was that in the course of the hour long discussion there was not a single mention of the man at the centre of our national discourse - and of his own family - Andrew Mountbatten Windsor.
Is it still sustainable to protect the royals from awkward questions? Or does something need to change in the dialogue between press and monarchy? Is it all over if we treat them like politicians, door stepping them on the issue of the day?
The BBC told us that the programme was "a panel discussion - not a news interview", and that "as is the case with any of our programmes, the BBC had full editorial control and to suggest the presenter was told what he could - or could not ask - is incorrect.”
Later - why has a lesser known Texas state representative garnered five million YouTube views overnight? Does he have Trump to thank for trying to cancel him?
The News Agents is brought to you by HSBC UK - https://www.hsbc.co.uk/
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Newsagents podcast is brought to you by HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. |
| 0:09.4 | This is a global player original podcast. Part of feeling comfortable talking about mental health |
| 0:15.7 | is understanding it. And if you've got guys who have really gone about trying to really learn about what feelings are, why we feel like we do, what can we do about it. |
| 0:26.0 | That's part of the conversation too. |
| 0:27.5 | We need more male role models out there kind of talking about it and normalising it so that it becomes something that is second nature to all of us. |
| 0:34.9 | That is Prince William on Radio One today, talking about |
| 0:39.2 | the hugely important subject of mental health. But another vitally important subject is Andrew |
| 0:47.3 | Mountbatten Windsor and the Epstein Files. On that, he said nothing and equally was asked nothing. |
| 0:56.0 | The royal family find themselves right in the middle |
| 0:58.8 | of this national conversation about Geoffrey Epstein |
| 1:01.7 | yet there's literal radio silence from them on air. |
| 1:05.6 | So do we need to redefine the rules |
| 1:08.4 | of how we talk to the Royals or not. |
| 1:11.7 | Welcome to the newsagents. |
| 1:17.5 | The Newsagents. |
| 1:19.1 | It's John. |
| 1:19.9 | It's Emily. |
| 1:20.6 | And as we come on air at 20 past 1, we're reading breaking news that Bedfordshire Police are reviewing Epstein files in relation |
| 1:29.2 | to private flights in and out of Luton Airport. This follows news of an investigation into |
| 1:34.7 | private flights going in and out of Stansted Airport, the investigation centering around |
| 1:41.5 | whether trafficked girls on Epstein's planes, on Epstein's flights, |
| 1:47.4 | were coming in and out of the UK. So I think that gives you a sense as we record of how central |
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