Prince Andrew Epstein interview – Bizarre bar claims, ‘sweat-gate’ and THAT photo – the Duke’s claims that don’t add up

IT was supposed to be the "no holds barred" interview that finally put his links with paedo Epstein to bed.

But Prince Andrew's "car crash" chat with the BBC's Emily Maitlis has only further fuelled speculation and criticism.

From the bizarre claims he can't sweat to an unusual trip to Pizza Express, the Duke's rebuttals sparked more questions.

Yet despite his sensational alibis, the Sun Online has unpicked several of his claims that don't appear to add up.

'SWEAT-GATE'

One of Epstein's alleged victims, Virginia Roberts - now called Giuffre- said she was forced to have sex with Prince Andrew when she was 17, which he denies.

Roberts, now 35, named Andrew in documents related to Epstein filed in Florida in 2015.

She has claimed she was forced to have sex with Andrew three times between 1999 and 2002 — in ­London, New York and on Epstein’s private Caribbean island.

She has given an account of the royal "pouring with perspiration" when they danced at a London club on a night out in 2001.

The Duke told Newsnight's Emily Maitlis being "shot at" during his time serving as a helicopter pilot during the Falklands War caused him to develop a medical condition, anhidrosis.

He claims the "peculiar medical condition" means he couldn't sweat properly at the time, and could not have "sweated profusely", as Roberts claims.

But doctors have questioned this claim - Dr Hilary Jones told GMB's Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid he is "sceptical" of Prince Andrew's defence that he cannot sweat.

He said: "It's an extraordinary claim. As for the adrenaline thing in the Falklands, it doesn’t make sense, because sweating isn’t mediated by adrenaline, it’s mediated by acetylcholine."

WHICH WAY IS THE BAR?

Roberts has recounted how Prince Andrew bought her a drink from the bar of Tramp nightclub in central London - which he referred to as "Tramps" in the interview.

She has said: "Andrew got me a cocktail from the bar and he had a drink for himself."

But while speaking to Ms Maitlis the Duke denied this, saying: "I don't know where the bar is in Tramps.

"I don't drink, I don't think I've ever bought a drink in Tramps whenever I was there."

However floorplans of the venue - which the Prince is said to have often visited - reveal that the bar is visible from the dance floor just 10 metres away.

SUITED AND BOOTED

A photograph of Prince Andrew posing with his arm around the teenage Roberts has been dogging him throughout these allegations.

She claims it was taken on the night out in question, but he and several people close to him have said it may have been doctored.

This is due to the Duke's argument he is dressed in "travelling clothes", and if he was out in London he would have been smarter.

He told Ms Maitlis: "I don't believe it's a picture of me in London, because when I go out in London I where a suit and tie."

But several photos have since emerged of Andrew out in London without a tie or jacket.

One of him leaving Chinawhite at 2am in July 2000 even sees him in a very similar outfit to the one in the photo at the centre of the claims.

He also questioned the reality of the photo by saying he doesn't give "public displays of affection", but many images taken of him embracing women have since been revealed.

EPSTEIN FRIENDSHIP

In the interview shown on BBC2 last night, Andrew told Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis he did not regret his friendship with the late Epstein.

But he claimed calling Epstein a close friend was a ";stretch", and told Ms Maitlis they saw each other "a maximum of three times a year".

Despite inviting Epstein to Princess Beatrice's 18th birthday party at Windsor Castle in July 2006, he claimed he didn't know an arrest warrant had been issued two months previously.

But he said he stopped all contact with him later that year until 2010 - when the Duke went to visit him six months after his release from prison for child sex offences.

They were pictured strolling through Central Park together, as Andrew stayed with him for a number of days and joined in with a dinner party - a move criticised by people questioning why he needed to visit to break contact.

He said: "I went there with the sole purpose of saying to him that because he had been convicted, it was inappropriate for us to be seen together."

DINNER AT PIZZA EXPRESS

Roberts has claimed she met Andrew at London club Tramp before sleeping with him in 2001.

But Prince Andrew, dad to Beatrice, 31, and Eugenie, 29, with ex-wife Sarah, said: “That couldn’t have happened because the date being suggested — the 10th of March — I was at home with the children.

“I’d taken Beatrice to a Pizza Express in Woking for a party at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

“And then because the Duchess was away, we have a simple rule in the family that when one is away the other is there.”