Prince Andrew was interviewed by Emily Maitlis for BBC's Newsnight about his involvement with Virginia Giuffre, formerly Roberts, who says she was sex trafficked by Prince Andrew's friend Jeffrey Epstein. She is one of 16 people who says she was abused by the now deceased Epstein.
Ms Giuffre says she met with Prince Andrew on the night of March 10 2001 when she was just 17 and was forced to have sex with him.
She alleges she danced with the prince in Tramps nightclub in London, and described him as 'sweaty', before going back to Epstein's partner Ghislaine Maxwell's house where she had sex with Prince Andrew.
A photo of Prince Andrew with his arm around a young Ms Giuffre's waist has been widely-circulated a proof that the prince at least met Ms Giuffre through his close friendship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Despite the photo, Prince Andrew told the BBC he can't recall ever meeting her.
'I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady, none whatsoever,' said the prince.
He also want on to say that on March 10 2001 he couldn't have been with Ms Giuffre as he can vividly remember going to Pizza Express restaurant in Woking, Surrey.
‘On that particular day, that we now understand is the date which is the 10th of March, I was at home,' he said.
‘I was with the children and I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at I suppose, sort of, four or five in the afternoon’.
He later added: ‘Going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do.'
Prince Andrew also added that Ms Giuffre's account of him being 'sweaty' is inaccurate as at the time he had a 'peculiar medical condition' which meant he was unable to sweat. He says it was as a result of the Falklands War which he fought in in 1982.
Since the interview has aired, people have flooded to the reviews section for Pizza Express in Woking to write hilarious accounts of their memories of the unassuming pizza restaurant.
It has been 18 years since I visited, but I remember it like it was yesterday. I was sweating profusely. So were all the other customers. It was hot. The pizza was spicy. The atmosphere was electric. But one man, one mysterious man was ice cool, sweat free. I'll never forget it. He was like a Prince amongst men, wrote one person.
The American Hot is great and my personal favourite, it's yet to bring me out in a sweat, but that's probably because I have a peculiar condition although having so many over the years it has kick started my ability to sweat, reads another.
Thoroughly enjoyed my American pizza on a balmy Spring evening in 2001. Only negative was that the air con was broken and after a while it started to become very hot and stuffy. There only seemed to be one man there not breaking out into a sweat, someone wrote.
Before the interview aired, Prince Andrews former wife Sarah Ferguson took to Twitter to defend her ex-husband.
'It is so rare to meet people that are able to speak from their hearts with honesty and pure real truth, that remain steadfast and strong to their beliefs,' she wrote.
'Andrew is a true and real gentleman and is stoically steadfast to not only his duty, but also his kindness and goodness.'
