BBC Newsnight has revealed that Pizza Express launched an internal inquiry into Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor's claim that he visited one of its branches on the date Virginia Giuffre alleges she was forced to have sex with him. The investigation found no evidence to either confirm or refute his account.
Journalist Victoria Derbyshire announced the development on X on Monday, stating that the programme had learned of the inquiry. According to Derbyshire, Pizza Express "found no evidence to suggest Mountbatten-Windsor had visited and was telling the truth - and also nothing to suggest he was not." She added that Newsnight had "made extensive inquiries to see if there's any record of any customer or any staff member" seeing Andrew on March 10, 2001, but had found "none."
Background to the Pizza Express claim
The claim dates back to a 2019 Newsnight interview in which the then-Prince Andrew spoke to Emily Maitlis about his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Asked about the day Giuffre says she was forced to have sex with him, Andrew said he could not recall meeting her as he had spent the day at a Pizza Express in Woking. "I'd taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party," he said, adding that he remembered the events clearly because "going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do."
The interview caused global controversy and led to Andrew stepping back from royal duties. Giuffre has maintained that she was trafficked by Epstein to have sex with Andrew on multiple occasions, including at the London home of Ghislaine Maxwell and at Epstein's properties.
Newsnight's further inquiries
Newsnight also submitted Freedom of Information requests to the Metropolitan Police, asking whether royal protection officers had accompanied Andrew to Pizza Express on that date. Derbyshire reported that the Met responded: "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." This was despite the Met previously referring to Andrew's royal protection officers, including in a press statement in February 2026.
The programme's findings add a new layer to the ongoing scrutiny of Andrew's account, which has been widely questioned. The Pizza Express inquiry, never before disclosed, suggests the chain itself sought to verify the claim but was unable to do so.
