Prince Andrew’s Most Infamous Epstein Alibi Faces New Scrutiny as Pizza Chain Launches Internal Probe

Pizza chain probed Prince Andrew’s Jeffrey Epstein alibi

Pizza chain probed Prince Andrew’s Jeffrey Epstein alibi
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A U.K. pizza restaurant chain revealed findings of an internal inquiry over Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s 2001 dinner claims.

In 2019, then-Prince Andrew said in his panned Newsnight interview that he and daughter Princess Beatrice had dined at a Pizza Express on one of the dates Virginia Giuffre claimed she had been forced to have sex with him.

Giuffre, who is arguably the most famous of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s victims, also claimed to have been a victim of Andrew’s, saying she was instructed to have sex with the royal on three occasions, including when she was just 17.

What did Andrew say about that night?

Giuffre said one of those alleged times was on March 10, 2001, detailing she had dinner with Andrew, they went to a nightclub, then later that night was made to have had sex with him at the home of Ghislaine Maxwell.

The disgraced royal, however, said in the Newsnight interview that he and Beatrice went to a party at Pizza Express at about 4 or 5 p.m. that day, then went back home.

“I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking,” he said in the interview, per the BBC. “This has all been worked out by my staff, who’ve looked at the diary and everything else.”

He explained: “The duchess (Sarah Ferguson) was away, I think, United States somewhere. And we had a very simple rule: At that stage, the children had one or other of us for all, most of the, well, as often as we could manage.”

Andrew added: “So if one of us was out, the other one was in. And then occasionally they would have both of us and on this particular occasion, she was away and I was at home.”

An undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on Aug. 9, 2021 by the United States District Couty for the Southern District of New York shows (left to right) Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell posing for a photo.
An undated handout photo taken at an undisclosed location and released on Aug. 9, 2021 by the United States District Couty for the Southern District of New York shows (left to right) Prince Andrew, Virginia Giuffre, and Ghislaine Maxwell posing for a photo.

The search for records

Senior management at Pizza Express agreed to BBC Newsnight’s investigation because they felt it was in the public interest to test the alibi the former Duke of York had offered in light of the Epstein files.

The internal inquiry involved looking at records from the time of the incident, as well as speaking to past employees and management.

The manager of the Woking location reportedly left the business in 2001 and was unable to be interviewed, according to the outlet.

Ultimately, the broadcaster’s probe uncovered no evidence of anyone seeing Andrew at the restaurant on that 2001 day, but also no evidence to definitively say he had not.

Britain's Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice arrive along with other members of the British Royal family to attend a Christmas Day service at Sandringham Church December 25, 2002 in Sandringham, United Kingdom. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)
Britain’s Prince Andrew and Princess Beatrice arrive along with other members of the British Royal family to attend a Christmas Day service at Sandringham Church December 25, 2002 in Sandringham, United Kingdom. (Scott Barbour/Getty Images)

Shut down by cops

BBC Newsnight also tried submitting a Freedom of Information request to the Metropolitan Police to learn more on whether royal protection officers accompanied the former prince to the restaurant 25 years ago.

The force said it could “neither confirm nor deny” whether it holds this information, citing “national security” among other reasons, according to the outlet.

“Confirming or denying that information is held would reveal whether protection had been afforded to a specific individual other than the King and the prime minister,” police said.

‘No comment’ sparks backlash

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey blasted Metropolitan Police, telling the BBC, “Of course the police are rightly very careful about giving any information about who they give special protection to. “I completely understand that and it’s right.”

Davey added: “But too often we see these types of ‘neither confirm nor deny’ answers where there really isn’t a legitimate security reason — and I think that’s what’s happening here.”

He called for an “exception” to be made by the force to divulge Andrew’s details.

“I really can’t see how revealing that Andrew had police protection 25 years ago would play into the hands of terrorists as the Met claims.”

Andrew has long denied any wrongdoing in connection with the Epstein files and Guiffre’s accusations. Guiffre took her own life last year.

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