Photo from Prince Andrew's Disastrous “Newsnight” Interview Could Hang in National Portrait Gallery

Although Kate Middleton has a role at the London museum, royal patrons aren't involved in such decisions

A picture taken on the day of Prince Andrew's infamous interview with BBC Newsnight in 2019 may go on display at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

According to the Daily Mail, a photograph of the Duke of York, 64, and Newsnight anchor Emily Maitlis taken by Mark Harrison on that fateful day may be added to the museum's permanent collection.

The new report, published on Aug. 24, said that the shot cleared the "first curatorial acquisitions meeting," but cited sources in claiming that the later stages may be delayed as the gallery is without a chief curator. The outlet identified the photo under consideration as a shot of Prince Andrew and Maitlis walking together in Buckingham Palace, where the conversation took place.

Offering comment to The Times, which also circulated the news, a spokeswoman for the National Portrait Gallery said, "The photograph has been offered to the Gallery as a gift by the photographer and the offer is being considered via our standard acquisitions process." The Times didn't disclose which picture taken by Harrison, who was reportedly the only photographer invited to capture Prince Andrew and Maitlis at the interview, is under review.

Related: A Timeline of Prince Andrew's Fall from Grace

The National Portrait Gallery draws about 1.6 million visitors each year and endeavors to "tell the story of Britain through portraits, using art to bring history to life and explore living today." Kate Middleton is the museum's patron, but the Princess of Wales wouldn't weigh in on any acquisition. Members of the royal family are not involved with the governance or daily operations of the organizations they support.

In November 2019, Newsnight filmed and aired a bombshell interview with the Duke of York around his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and the allegations that he had sex with Virginia Roberts Giuffre when she was 17. Epstein died in prison while awaiting federal sex trafficking charges in August 2019, and Prince Andrew sat down with Maitlis several months later.

The Duke of York has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and announced his step back from royal duties a few days after the Newsnight interview aired. The royal said that he continued to "unequivocally regret my ill-judged association with Jeffrey Epstein" in the statement announcing his step back.

The wide-ranging conversation full of bizarre bombshells was widely considered to be the start of Prince Andrew's fall from grace, made official when Queen Elizabeth stripped him of his military titles and patronages in January 2022 amid Giuffre's civil sexual assault lawsuit. In the litigation, Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein and forced to have sex with the royal on three occasions between 1999 and 2002, when she was a teenager. An out-of-court settlement for an undisclosed sum was reached the following month.

The Newsnight scandal has since inspired two fictionalized television renditions. The Netflix movie Scoop, starring Rufus Sewell as Andrew and Gillian Anderson as Maitlis, debuted in April, and the Amazon Prime series A Very Royal Scandal featuring Michael Sheen as the Duke of York and Ruth Wilson as Maitlis will premiere on Sept. 19.

Related: Prince Andrew Faces Pressure to Leave Royal Residence as King Charles Cuts Off Security: Reports

Can't get enough of PEOPLE's Royals coverage? Sign up for our free Royals newsletter to get the latest updates on Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and more!

"It started as, in a sense, a non-story, and then it became the biggest story in the world," Sam McAlister, a key BBC producer behind the Newsnight interview whose 2022 memoir, Scoops, inspired the Netflix movie, exclusively told PEOPLE before the premiere.

"We are still talking about it these years later, and I'm sure that we'll still be talking about it for generations to come, in terms of its journalistic and royal significance," she said.

Though he is no longer a working royal, Prince Andrew has continued to join the royals at family events including Queen Elizabeth's state funeral in September 2022, the coronation of his brother King Charles in May 2023 and most recently, the King's church outing on Easter Sunday.

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.