Pizza Express is reported to have launched an internal investigation into Prince Andrew's claim that he visited its Woking restaurant in 2001, a detail he provided as an alibi during his infamous Newsnight interview. Senior managers at the pizza chain reportedly examined records and attempted to locate former staff members to verify the plausibility of the former Prince's story.
The inquiry, however, failed to produce any evidence confirming or refuting Andrew's assertion that he was at the Woking branch on March 10, 2001. The BBC's Newsnight program, which originally aired the interview, also conducted its own research and found no records of anyone seeing him at the restaurant.
Andrew, who has consistently denied any wrongdoing, used the Woking Pizza Express visit as a reason why he could not have met with Virginia Giuffre, a victim of Jeffrey Epstein, on the night she claimed they met. Giuffre alleged that she was trafficked by Epstein and made to have sex with the then-Prince three times between 2001 and 2002 when she was 17. She specified one such occasion was March 10, 2001, claiming they had dinner, danced at a nightclub, and then engaged in sexual activity.
In his Newsnight interview, Andrew stated that the alibi was true because he had taken his daughter, Princess Beatrice, then 12 years old, to a pizza party at the Woking restaurant around 4 p.m. or 5 p.m. that afternoon before returning home for the night. He mentioned that his staff had reviewed his diary to corroborate this account. Additional footage from the interview revealed that his ex-wife, Sarah Ferguson, was reportedly in the United States at the time, and he was adhering to a rule of being present for the children when she was away.
Regarding potential official records, the Metropolitan Police, when asked by the BBC if royal protection officers had accompanied Andrew to the restaurant that day, responded with a neither-confirm-nor-deny stance, citing national security. Sir Ed Davey, leader of the Liberal Democrats, criticized this response, suggesting that a security exception should be made to reveal any such records.
Prince Andrew was stripped of his royal title by King Charles III last year and has since moved out of the Royal Lodge. He was previously arrested in February on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. He has maintained his denials of any wrongdoing.