Prince Andrew has reportedly been asked to produce medical evidence to prove that he is unable to sweat as part of a civil case against the royal in New York.
The royal famously said that he cannot physically sweat in an interview with the BBC about allegations of sexual assault against him.
Virginia Giuffre, 38, has alleged she was forced to have sex with the Duke of York in London, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands when she was 17 years old in homes owned either by convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein or by Ghislaine Maxwell. Prince Andrew has denied the allegations.
The new request for medical evidence was revealed this week after Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of recruiting and trafficking underage girls for late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
In 2019, the royal contested Giuffre’s claim that, while she and the prince were allegedly dancing at a London nightclub, he was sweaty.
He refuted this recollection, telling journalist Emily Maitlis that he has a “peculiar medical condition” whereby he physically cannot sweat.
“There’s a slight problem with the sweating, because I have a peculiar medical condition, which is that I don’t sweat, or I didn’t sweat at the time, and that was—was it—yes, I didn’t sweat at the time—” he said.
Now lawyers representing Giuffre have asked that the prince provide evidence of this medical condition.
Newly filed court papers show that Giuffre’s attorneys have asked for proof of this “alleged…condition,” per The Independent.
“All Documents concerning Your alleged medical condition of anhidrosis, hypohidrosis, or your inability to sweat,” the documents seen by The Daily Mail and The Telegraph state.
The Duke’s lawyers have rejected 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.”
What Did Prince Andrew Say About Not Being Able to Sweat?
In his 2019 BBC interview, Prince Andrew explained that an episode during the Falklands War in 1982 had left him unable to perspire.
“Because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenaline in the Falklands War when I was shot at, and I simply—it was almost impossible for me to sweat,” he said at the time.
“And it’s only because I have done a number of things in the recent past that I am starting to be able to do that again. So I’m afraid to say that there’s a medical condition that says that I didn’t do it.”
He also said that he was in a Pizza Express restaurant in Woking in the U.K. on the night Giuffre is alleged to have danced with him in a nightclub.
Of course he can’t sweat that would be a sign of guilt.