Prince Andrew has refuted accusations that he had s**ual relations with a 17-year-old girl, stating that he was at Pizza Express in Woking on the night in question.
In an unprecedented television interview addressing his association with billionaire s** offender Jeffrey Epstein, the Duke of York denied any involvement with Virginia Giuffre in 2001.
Giuffre has alleged that she was coerced into sleeping with Prince Andrew after dancing with him at a club and subsequently going to a house in Belgravia.
She is one of 16 women who have claimed to be victims of Epstein, who died in jail while awaiting s**-trafficking charges.
Epstein maintained his relationship with the prince even after being convicted of soliciting s** from a minor in 2007.
When asked about the specific date of the alleged incident, Prince Andrew stated, “On that particular day, which we now understand to be the 10th of March, I was at home.
I had taken my daughter Beatrice to a party at Pizza Express in Woking in the late afternoon because my wife, the Duchess of York, was away.”
When questioned about why he remembered this particular trip to the restaurant, he explained, “Going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do.
I’ve only been to Woking a couple of times, and I remember it distinctly.
As soon as someone reminded me of it, I thought, ‘Oh yes, I remember that.'”
The prince also denied Giuffre’s claim that he was sweating profusely during their encounter, stating that he had a medical condition at the time that prevented him from sweating.
He said, “I didn’t sweat at the time due to an overdose of adrenaline during the Falkland’s War when I was shot at.
It was almost impossible for me to sweat.
Only recently have I started to be able to do so again.”
Giuffre previously alleged that Epstein “recruited” her when she was 15 years old while she was working at Mar-a-Lago, coercing her into s**ual activities in exchange for payments.
She claims to have been forced into having s**ual relations with Prince Andrew in New York, London, and on Epstein’s private Caribbean island, where an orgy allegedly took place when she was 18.
Buckingham Palace has consistently denied any allegations against the duke concerning Giuffre, stating that “it is emphatically denied that the Duke of York had any form of s**ual contact or relationship” with her.
The prince’s appearance on the BBC marks his first public comments regarding his relationship with the deceased financier after months of silence on the matter.
During the interview, Prince Andrew also questioned the authenticity of a photograph showing him with his arm around Giuffre in London, suggesting that it may have been doctored.
He explained, “I don’t believe it’s a picture of me in London because when I go out, I wear a suit and tie.
Those are my traveling clothes if I’m going overseas.
Nobody can prove whether or not the photograph has been doctored, but I don’t recall that photograph ever being taken.”
Prince Andrew first met Epstein in 1999 through his friendship with Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein’s associate and accused accomplice in his s** trafficking activities.
Following their introduction, Epstein was invited to various prestigious locations by the prince, including Windsor palace, the Queen’s Balmoral retreat, and the royal estate in Sandringham.
They were also seen together at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida.
The interview with Prince Andrew also addressed a meeting he had with Epstein in New York in 2010, after the financier had been convicted of soliciting s** from a minor.
The prince’s role as a trade envoy for the UK was called into question due to a photograph of him walking with Epstein through Central Park during that time.
However, footage later emerged of the prince inside Epstein’s Manhattan mansion during the same year, which he defended by stating that he had visited Epstein to inform him in person that they should not spend time together in the future.
Prince Andrew acknowledged that his judgment may have been clouded by his sense of honor and admitted that staying at Epstein’s house was the wrong decision.
He said, “At the end of the day, with the benefit of hindsight, it was definitely the wrong thing to do.
But at the time, I felt it was honorable and right.
My judgment was probably influenced by my tendency to be too honorable.”
