1 00:00:01,880 --> 00:00:04,840 Speaker 1: Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with 2 00:00:04,920 --> 00:00:10,240 Speaker 1: the Front's afternoon headlines. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor was once hailed 3 00:00:10,240 --> 00:00:13,119 Speaker 1: a war hero, but the medals he received for service 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,000 Speaker 1: in the Falklands War could be taken away as his 5 00:00:16,120 --> 00:00:19,759 Speaker 1: once glittering life crumbles. The former Duke of York was 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:23,480 Speaker 1: a Royal Navy helicopter pilot during the nineteen eighty two conflict, 7 00:00:23,800 --> 00:00:28,000 Speaker 1: famously leading a decoy mission and rescuing dozens of sailors 8 00:00:28,040 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: after a cargo ship sank. Bart Buckingham Palace won't say 9 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,000 Speaker 1: if the disgraced royal will be allowed to keep the medals. 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:39,400 Speaker 1: The UK's Defense Secretary, John Healey has said Mountbatten Windsor 11 00:00:39,600 --> 00:00:42,640 Speaker 1: will be stripped of his honorary military rank of Vice 12 00:00:42,680 --> 00:00:46,760 Speaker 1: Admiral and the decoration could go with it. Heally declined 13 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:49,400 Speaker 1: to comment on whether Mountbatten Windsor would be able to 14 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:53,080 Speaker 1: keep his medals, including the Campaign Medal he received for 15 00:00:53,200 --> 00:00:57,200 Speaker 1: service in the Falklands Conflict. Mount Baton Windsor spent twenty 16 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,200 Speaker 1: two years in the Navy between nineteen seventy nine and 17 00:01:00,360 --> 00:01:03,720 Speaker 1: two thousand and one. In the Falklands conflict. He served 18 00:01:03,760 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: aboard aircraft carrier HMS Invincible flying Sea King helicopters, and 19 00:01:09,440 --> 00:01:14,080 Speaker 1: after the war he commanded HMS Courtesmore, a mine countermeasures vessel. 20 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,080 Speaker 1: After retiring, he became a UK Trade Envoy and flew 21 00:01:18,120 --> 00:01:22,440 Speaker 1: around the world representing Britain's interests in trade and investment. 22 00:01:23,120 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: Mountbatten Windsor was stripped of his royal titles in recent 23 00:01:26,400 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: weeks following the publication of a posthumous memoir by Virginia 24 00:01:30,720 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: Roberts Gufrey. She alleged she was trafficked to Andrew for 25 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,560 Speaker 1: sex on multiple occasions when she was a teenager by 26 00:01:38,680 --> 00:01:43,800 Speaker 1: the convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Mountbatten Windsor has always maintained 27 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:46,960 Speaker 1: he didn't have sex with Gufrey, and claimed in an 28 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,800 Speaker 1: interview with the BBC's Newsnight program in twenty nineteen he 29 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: had no recollection of ever meeting her. He also said 30 00:01:54,560 --> 00:01:58,440 Speaker 1: the stress of the Falkland's conflict changed his life and 31 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,160 Speaker 1: was part of the reason why do you phrase story 32 00:02:01,280 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: couldn't be true. 33 00:02:02,680 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 2: She described dancing with you and you profusely sweating, and 34 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 2: that she went on to have Possibly there's a. 35 00:02:11,440 --> 00:02:16,679 Speaker 3: Slight problem with with with with the sweating because I 36 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:22,440 Speaker 3: have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don't sweat, 37 00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,240 Speaker 3: or I didn't sweat at the time, and that was Yes, 38 00:02:27,639 --> 00:02:32,440 Speaker 3: I didn't sweat at the time because I had suffered 39 00:02:32,440 --> 00:02:35,079 Speaker 3: what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in 40 00:02:35,080 --> 00:02:38,880 Speaker 3: the Falklands War when I was shot at, and I 41 00:02:39,120 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 3: simply it was it was almost impossible for me to sweat. 42 00:02:43,680 --> 00:02:45,840 Speaker 3: And it's only because I have done a number of 43 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 3: things in the recent past that I'm starting to be 44 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:52,399 Speaker 3: able to do that again. So I'm afraid to say 45 00:02:52,400 --> 00:02:54,600 Speaker 3: that that that that there's a medical condition that says 46 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:55,240 Speaker 3: that I didn't do it. 47 00:02:55,280 --> 00:02:59,000 Speaker 2: So therefore, is it possible that you met Virginia Roberts, 48 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:03,280 Speaker 2: dined with her, danced with her in tramp, had sex 49 00:03:03,320 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 2: with her on another date? No, do you remember meeting 50 00:03:09,880 --> 00:03:10,680 Speaker 2: her at all? 51 00:03:10,800 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 1: No? 52 00:03:11,840 --> 00:03:14,680 Speaker 2: Do you know you didn't meet her? Or do you 53 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:16,040 Speaker 2: just not remember? No? 54 00:03:16,480 --> 00:03:19,200 Speaker 3: I have I don't know if I've met her, but 55 00:03:19,280 --> 00:03:21,120 Speaker 3: now I have no recollection of the meeting. 56 00:03:21,720 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: The disgraced financier Epstein died by suicide in a Manhattan 57 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:29,959 Speaker 1: prison in twenty nineteen while awaiting trial. Virginia Guffrey, who 58 00:03:30,040 --> 00:03:33,320 Speaker 1: settled in Western Australia in the early nineteen nineties, took 59 00:03:33,360 --> 00:03:37,000 Speaker 1: her own life earlier this year. Andrew has lost his 60 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: home on the Royal estate at Windsor and will soon 61 00:03:39,680 --> 00:03:43,000 Speaker 1: move to the King's Norfolk estate of Sandringham into a 62 00:03:43,040 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: house provided for by his elder brother Charles. That story 63 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:50,400 Speaker 1: is live now at the Australian dot com dot au 64 00:03:50,600 --> 00:03:52,720 Speaker 1: and come back to the front tomorrow for our look 65 00:03:52,760 --> 00:03:57,880 Speaker 1: at Optus's executives dragged before a Senate inquiry to explain 66 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,360 Speaker 1: the company's repeated fatal triple O outages.