Panicked BBC journalist Emily Maitliss took refuge in the toilet before interviewing Prince Andrew

Former BBC journalist Emily Maitliss was so panicked before her interview with Prince Andrew that she hid in the toilet for five minutes.

And she revealed she was so concerned she was wearing the wrong outfit for the TV showdown that she packed a suitcase to take to Buckingham Palace.

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Her 2019 Newsnight interview with the Duke of York about his friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein came just before he was forced to step down as a senior member of the royal family.

But Emily, 52, admitted she felt “awful” as she entered the palace that day.

She said: “I hid in the toilet. I am not joking.

“A good interview comes from the five minutes of silence you have alone beforehand, and I think that’s the golden time for me.”

“I suddenly realized that I only needed five minutes alone.”

And of her suitcase full of spare outfits, she told the High Performance podcast: “It was a slight reflection of my state of mind that I couldn’t quite make up my mind.

“I thought, ‘What if I have the wrong thing? I might spill coffee, I might spill tea, I might get sick’.”