Prince Andrew claimed last night that he had an alibi for the night he had allegedly spent with a “sex slave” in London in 2001: he was taking his daughter Beatrice, then 13, to a pizza party.

The Duke of York said he remembers “weirdly distinctly” going to a Pizza Express in Woking, Surrey, because it was “very unusual” for him to have gone to a high street restaurant chain.

Last month a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary claimed the night spent with Virginia Giuffre (née Roberts) was “likely” to have been on March 10, 2001. She has never specified the date on which she was allegedly forced by the American paedophile Jeffrey Epstein to have sex with the prince.

This weekend Andrew claimed that he