Why Did Prince Andrew Say He Went to a Pizza Express in Woking?

One of the stranger things Prince Andrew said in his Newsnight interview with Emily Maitlis was in response to a question about meeting Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts).

The exchange, which was recreated in Netflix's film Scoop, begins when Maitlis says to Andrew, "July of this year, Epstein was arrested on charges of sex trafficking and abusing dozens of underage girls. One of the Epstein's accusers, Virginia Roberts has made allegations against you. She says she met you in 2001, she says she dined with you, danced with you at Tramp Nightclub in London. She went on to have sex with you in a house in Belgravia belonging to Ghislaine Maxwell, your friend. Your response?"

Andrew replies, "I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever." He denies it a few more times, saying, "No, I've no recollection of ever meeting her, I'm almost, in fact I'm convinced that I was never in Tramps with her."

Then the conversation takes a strange turn, when Maitlis asks if he remembers dancing at Tramp. "No, that couldn't have happened because the date that's being suggested I was at home with the children," he responds. When she follows up to ask if it was a "memorable night" that he was at home with his daughters, Andrew says, "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 4:00 or 5:00 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."

Maitlis asks, "Why would you remember that so specifically? Why would you remember a Pizza Express birthday and being at home?" The Duke of York replies, "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."

Prince Andrew's Pizza Express alibi was widely ridiculed following the broadcast. Per the Daily Mail's investigation into the alibi an "impeccable source" close to Princess Beatrice said she had "absolutely no recollection" of this Pizza Express party. The Mail also found the parents of Beatrice's schoolmate who hosted the party, and who said Beatrice did attend, but there are no photos and they could not recall specific details.

"We had made a deliberate decision from the outset not to take photographs of, or around, Bea as it seemed to be permanently open season among some parents who indulged in this sport," the parents said. "The party was almost 20 years ago. We were living in Woking and had two daughters at prep school there. Not only were their birthdays celebrated in Pizza Express but almost every beginning of term, end of term and half-term. Pizza Express was just the place they liked to go for their treats."

They added: "Bea was one of our daughter's friends at school. There were no special arrangements or formalities regarding her parents, they were frequently around the school and the girls' social lives. They were informal and unobtrusive."

So the world may never know whether or not Prince Andrew did, in fact, attend the Pizza Express party in Woking, but it was one of the more memorable parts of his Newnsight interview.

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