Pizza Express bosses are said to have ordered an investigation over the alibi given by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor during his 2019 BBC Newsnight interview, according to new reports
Pizza Express are said to have launched an internal ‘investigation’ about Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s claims(Image: PA)
Bosses at Pizza Express launched an internal inquiry into whether Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor visited the chain, it has been claimed.
Senior management at the restaurant chain ordered an investigation over an alibi given by the then-Duke of York during the infamous 2019 interview with Emily Maitlis, according to new reports from BBC Newsnight – and found no evidence to conclude that he had or hadn’t attended the restaurant.
The inquiry is said to have included former employees, though the manager is reported to have left the business, meaning the chain could not speak to him. In the interview, Andrew claimed to have visited one of the restaurants in Woking, Surrey with daughter Princess Beatrice on March 10, 2001 – the day he is alleged to have slept with accuser Virginia Giuffre.
Andrew has always denied all allegations made by the late Virginia Giuffre(Image: US District Court – Southern Dis)
Giuffre, who died last year, alleged that she and Andrew socialised at Tramp nightclub in Mayfair, London that day, when she was 17, before returning to Ghislaine Maxwell’s Belgravia home. She claimed that a sexual encounter then took place between them. Andrew has always denied any wrongdoing.
The ex-prince said in the 2019 interview: “On that particular day that we now understand is the date which is the 10th of March, I was at home, I was with the children and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at I suppose sort of four or five in the afternoon.
“And then because the duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other one is there. I was on terminal leave at the time from the Royal Navy so, therefore, I was at home.”
Asked by Emily why he would remember a visit to the restaurant, he said: “Because going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do. I’ve never been… I’ve only been to Woking a couple of times and I remember it weirdly distinctly. As soon as somebody reminded me of it, I went, ‘Oh yes, I remember that.’ But I have no recollection of ever meeting or being in the company or the presence.”
She then asked him: “So you’re absolutely sure that you were at home on the 10th March?”, to which he replied: “Yeah”.
The Mirror has contacted Pizza Express for comment.
BBC Newsnight also reported that it had submitted a Freedom of Information request to the Metropolitan Police, asking if any royal protection officers accompanied the former prince to the Woking branch 25 years ago.
In response, the force told the broadcaster it could “neither confirm nor deny” whether it held such information, citing “national security” as one reason.
Andrew was arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office on February 19, his 66th birthday, and interviewed under caution before being released under investigation. Searches were also carried out at his former homes in Windsor and Norfolk.
Detectives are understood to be working through evidence recovered during the operation.
The former prince has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
They have also made a formal request to the US Department of Justice for the original versions of the Epstein files, but have not yet received any information.
