HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York visits the Showground on the final day of the 161st Great Yorkshire Show on July 11, 2019 in Harrogate, England. Ian Forsyth | Getty Images

Corporate sponsors of Prince Andrew of Britain's initiative to boost entrepreneurship are reconsidering their relationship with the project on the heels of a botched television interview about his former friend, sex criminal Jeffrey Epstein. The auditing firm KPMG is not renewing its sponsorshop of Andrew's Pitch@Palace and "made the decision following adverse press scrutiny around Prince Andrew," SkyNews reported Monday. KPMG did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC. A spokesman for pharmaceuticals giant AstraZeneca, told CNBC, "Our three year partnership with pitch@palace is due to expire at the end of this year and is currently being reviewed." The logo of insurance broker Aon, which had been prominently featured on the Pitch@Palace website as a "global partner," is no longer there. A person familiar with the company said that Aon — before Andrew's recent interview — asked for the removal of its logo, which Aon believed had been prematurely posted. The person said that the company never finalized an agreement to be a sponsor. The bank Standard Chartered declined to comment to CNBC. Requests for comment from Barclays, Tencent, Hult International Business School, Inmarsat and Bosch Group were not immediately answered. Andrew, son of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, is just one of a number of high-profile people whose past friendship with Epstein came under renewed scrutiny after the wealthy investor's arrest in July on federal child sex trafficking charges. Presidents Donald Trump and Bill Clinton were also friends with Epstein before he pleaded guilty in 2008 to soliciting an underage prostitute in Florida.

Andrew, in his interview with BBC Newsnight that aired over the weekend, denied having sex with one of Epstein's accusers, Virginia Giuffre in 2001, and discussed his decision to sever ties with Epstein after his conviction in Florida. But the interview sparked widespread criticism over Andrew's answers and demeanor, particularly when he pooh-poohed Giuffre's claim that he was "sweating all over me" on a London dance floor around the time of their alleged sexual encounter. Andrew said he was incapable of sweating in most cases at that time because of an "overdose of adrenaline" as a result of a stress reaction he experienced while being shot at during the Falklands War with Argentina in 1982. "I have no recollection of ever meeting this lady. None whatsoever," said Andrew, who is also known as the Duke of York. But there is a photo of a young Giuffre and Andrew together. Both of them are smiling and Andrew has his arm around Giuffre, as the royal's friend, Ghislaine Maxwell, stands behind them.

Prince Andrew with Virginia Giuffre and Ghislain Maxwell. Source: Attained through court documents.