Rory Stewart celebrated King Charles III's coronation at a Pizza Express

King Charles III’s coronation is over, he’s now King, and the celebrations are underway, but former International Trade Secretary Rory Stewart’s way of marking the introduction of a new monarch is raising a few eyebrows.

Mr Stewart, who once stood for election as Conservative Party leader and Mayor of London (he lost both), took to Twitter after the ceremony to declare it was “time for some food” – except his choice of restaurant was a pretty wild one, on today of all days…

He chose Pizza Express.

Yes, really. Prince Andrew could never.

If you’ve forgotten why Prince Andrew and Pizza Express is about as awkward as pineapple on pizza, then allow us to take you back to the disgraced royal’s infamous interview with Emily Maitlis, then of BBC’s Newsnight.

In the same discussion which saw the Duke of York say it was “impossible for me to sweat”, the duke said he has “no recollection of ever meeting” Virginia Giuffre, who claimed she was forced to have intercourse with him aged 17.

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The scandal – which also concerns his links to the convicted paedophile Jeffrey Epstein – saw him step down from royal duties in 2019 and be stripped of his HRH title in January 2022.

He has vehemently and continuously denied the claims.

In February last year, an out-of-court settlement to the tune of several million pounds was reached with Ms Guiffre and included damages and a charitable donation “in support of victims’ rights”.

Although in January, almost a year later, reports surfaced of Prince Andrew potentially considering a legal challenge to overturn such a settlement and even require an apology.

Alongside the sweating line, another part of the duke’s alibi which prompted equal amounts of ridicule and memes was that on the day in question, he was actually at a Pizza Express in Woking.

He said: “I was at home. 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.

“Going to Pizza Express in Woking is an unusual thing for me to do, a very unusual thing for me to do. I’ve never been… I’ve only been to Woking a couple of times and I remember it weirdly distinctly.”

So, on a day when the royal family will likely want to avoid giving Prince Andrew any attention (he was even booed by crowds on the way to the coronation), Mr Stewart celebrating by going to Pizza Express is a little risqué.

And Twitter was all too keen to point that out – and the former politician’s unusual outfit choice:

Mr Stewart has since confirmed the costume is the Privy Councillor uniform “for things like coronations”, and that his meal of choice was La Reine pizza, in case you were wondering.

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