Senior management at a U.K. pizza restaurant chain has agreed to an investigation into the alibi of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, the Duke of York, following allegations he had dinner with Virginia Giuffre at a Pizza Express in Woking in 2001.
The investigation, which involved looking at records from the time of the incident and speaking to past employees and management, found no evidence of Andrew at the restaurant on that day. However, the inquiry also uncovered no evidence to definitively rule out the possibility that he was there.
Andrew had previously claimed in a 2019 interview that he and his daughter, Princess Beatrice, had gone to a party at Pizza Express in Woking on March 10, 2001, and then returned home. He stated that his staff had looked at his diary and confirmed his account.
The Metropolitan Police has been asked to provide information on whether royal protection officers accompanied Andrew to the restaurant 25 years ago, but the force has refused to confirm or deny whether it holds this information, citing national security and other reasons.
The police's response has been met with criticism from Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, who called for an exception to be made to divulge Andrew's details and questioned the legitimacy of the security reasons cited by the force.
