Featured Image Credit: Alamy/BBC
Topics: Prince Andrew
Joe Harker
Prince Andrew's claims that he cannot sweat have been backed by a former US intelligence official.
The Duke of York's defence against allegations of sexual assault rests upon his own claim that he cannot sweat.
He first made the claim in an interview with Emily Maitlis in which he disputed the account of Virginia Roberts Giuffre, who has accused him of sexually assaulting her at the homes of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell when she was a teenager.
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Giuffre's account describes Prince Andrew as 'profusely sweating', but during his interview with Maitlis he said it was 'almost impossible for [him] to sweat' due to a medical condition that resulted from 'an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War'.
Prince Andrew went on to say that he had only recently regained the ability to sweat.
Now, the Daily Mail reports that former US intelligence officer Allan Starkie is backing up the prince's claim that he could not sweat around the time the incidents allegedly occurred.
Speaking of their first meeting at Annabel's nightclub, he said, 'It was extremely warm at Annabel's that night and Andrew was wearing a blue suit of heavy wool.
'The evening featured almost constant dancing, and I watched with amazement as he returned from each dance, escorting rather moist partners, yet always bone dry himself.
'It was extraordinary. The rest of us were perspiring madly, but he didn't seem to have a bead of sweat on him.'
Starkie went on to say that Prince Andrew 'never had a bead of perspiration on him' in any of their subsequent encounters over the years.
The former US intelligence officer says he would be prepared to swear on oath about Prince Andrew's inability to sweat.
The BBC reports that Giuffre, now 38, recently demanded that Prince Andrew back up his claim that he cannot sweat, with her lawyers filing a motion calling on the 61-year-old to supply 'all documents concerning [his] alleged medical condition of anhidrosis, hypohidrosis, or your inability to sweat'.
Prince Andrew's lawyers say he objects to the request 'on the grounds that it is harassing and seeks confidential and private information and documents that are irrelevant, immaterial and not reasonably calculated to lead to the discovery of admissible evidence'.
They also said that he possesses no such documents to hand over.
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