Pizza Express conducted an internal investigation into Prince Andrew's claim that he was at one of its branches in Woking on the day he was alleged to have had sex with Virginia Giuffre, one of Jeffrey Epstein's victims. The inquiry was prompted by the then-prince's infamous 2019 Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis, in which he stated, "I'd taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking."
Investigation Details
The BBC reported that in 2019, Pizza Express's senior management team considered the claim a matter of public interest and launched an internal inquiry. The investigation included searching for contemporary records, which could not be found, and attempting to interview former staff members and local management. However, the manager who was in charge of the Woking branch in 2001 had since left the business and was not spoken with.
Conclusion of the Inquiry
The chain ultimately concluded that it had found no evidence to suggest Andrew had visited the branch, nor anything to suggest he was not telling the truth. Andrew has denied any wrongdoing regarding the allegations made by Giuffre, who died by suicide in April 2025.
Additional Claims from the Interview
During the Newsnight interview, Andrew also refuted Giuffre's claim that his sweat was "raining basically everywhere" while the pair danced at a nightclub. Maitlis asked about the specific description, and Andrew responded, "There’s a slight problem with the sweating. I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat, or I didn’t sweat at the time." He attributed this to an "overdose of adrenaline" suffered during the Falklands War, stating, "I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when I was shot at and it was almost impossible for me to sweat."
