BBC News was pulled from air as the news channel suffered a huge technical blunder during a report on Andrew, formerly the Duke of York.
The King’s disgraced brother has been formally stripped of all of his titles following his association with the late convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein. In a statement, it was confirmed that the prince will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Andrew denies all allegations against him. BBC News was sharing the latest updates on the Andrew saga, with reports coming in that Andrew will not be leaving his Royal Lodge “for months” after he was given notice to vacate the premises.
However, as Rajini Vaidyanathan came back onto screen to hand over to Spencer Kuvin, an American lawyer, who represents some of the survivors of Epstein’s abuse, all sound was cut from the channel, leaving the host speaking to camera with no audio.
The video was then cut, with the BBC logo being all that could be seen on screen, while voices in the background could be heard doing mic checks.
After several moments of silence, the video finally returned as Rajini said: “Just want to apologise for those technical difficulties there, we lost sound in the gallery and the studio, so that’s why we had to take a short break from our broadcast. But, we are back up and running and you can now hear me, but apologies,” as she explained she had been trying to share the latest updates on Andrew.
She then handed over to Kuvin, who had been waiting via video link after being plunged into silence just minutes earlier.
In a bombshell statement, King Charles announced his brother would be stripped of all royal titles with immediate effect. It read: “His Majesty has today initiated a formal process to remove the Style, Titles and Honours of Prince Andrew.
“Prince Andrew will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. His lease on Royal Lodge has, to date, provided him with legal protection to continue in residence.
“Formal notice has now been served to surrender the lease and he will move to alternative private accommodation. These censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him.
“Their Majesties wish to make clear that their thoughts and utmost sympathies have been, and will remain with, the victims and survivors of any and all forms of abuse.”
