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The BBC has shared the number of complaints that it received after Kay Burley referred to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a “war hero”.
The former Sky News presenter made the comments while appearing on Newsnight on 6 June alongside Jeffrey Epstein survivor Lisa Phillips and Minister for Victims Alex Davies-Jones.
Seconds after Phillips and Davies-Jones encouraged viewers to come forward with any information they might have, Burley interjected to make a comment about Mountbatten-Windsor, who faced major public scrutiny over his close friendship with the convicted paedophile Epstein.
“And we should accept that he was a war hero. We should just throw that in,” she said of the former Duke of York.
Viewers immediately took to social media to brand the moment “horrific” and “disgusting” and call for Burley to apologise.
And now, the BBC has revealed that it received 160 complaints from viewers who said that it had been “insensitive for Kay Burley to refer to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as a ‘war hero’”.
The Standard has contacted Burley’s representatives for comment.
During the episode, which aired earlier this month, Newsnight revealed that Pizza Express held its own internal enquiry into Mountbatten-Windsor’s infamous claim that he had been at the company’s Woking branch on the date the late Virginia Giuffre claimed she was forced to have sex with him.
The chain found no evidence to support this claim, and the Met Police denied Newsnight’s freedom of information asking whether any royal protection officers followed him to the restaurant.
The subject was then discussed by the guests, with Phillips, a former model who was abused by Epstein when she was 21, calling on her ”survivor sisters” to get in touch.
Agreeing, MP for Pontypridd Davies-Jones said: ”Likewise. Anyone can come forward. We already have had, as a result of us speaking out, survivors coming forward and claiming that they were also victims of Epstein, Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Ghislaine Maxwell.”
”And these are British?” asked host Victoria Derbyshire, with Davies-Jones confirming that they are.
This was the moment when Burley interjected, with her comments being met by an awkward silence and Derbyshire attempting to move the conversation on with a ”thank you”.
”He was,” said Burley, looking around the studio.
Mountbatten-Windsor has always vehemently denied all allegations of wrongdoing. In October 2025, he was stripped of his title and made to leave his Windsor mansion, Royal Lodge.
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