Hot-footing it: Prince Andrew pictured in 2000, running down the street after a night out at club Chinawhites. But is he sweating – or is his shirt just shiny?

Prince Andrew last night presented a medical condition which left him unable to sweat as evidence against the claim by Virginia Roberts Guiffre that he had sex with her when she was 17 years old.

He has always furiously rejected the allegation by Ms Roberts that they ever had sex, which she claims happened in 2001, in a London house following a meeting at a nightclub called Tramp. He is said to have plied her with vodka.

During the BBC interview, Emily Maitlis asked the Prince about Ms Roberts Guiffre’s account of the night. She said: ‘She described dancing with you… and you profusely sweating.’

But Prince Andrew disputed the events, on the basis that he could not physically sweat at the time.

He said the condition was brought on by an intensely traumatic event he experienced during the 1982 Falklands War, in which he served as a Royal Navy helicopter pilot.

The Prince told Maitlis: ‘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. Yes, I didn’t sweat at the time because I had suffered what I would describe as an overdose of adrenalin in the Falklands War, when I was shot at and I simply … it was almost impossible for me to sweat.’

The rare condition to which he was referring is called anhydrosis, the inability to sweat. It is typically inherited, while it can be caused by physical skin damage and certain drugs including morphine.

People can suffer local anhydrosis – affecting a portion of their skin – or it can mean they cannot sweat at all.

In September, Ms Roberts Guiffre told US TV channel NBC that Prince Andrew was ‘pouring with perspiration’ when they danced in Tramp that night. She said: ‘He was a hideous dancer and he was sweating profusely all over me. I just remember like, “Ugh, I need a shower. This is disgusting.”’

Prince Andrew has always furiously rejected the allegation by Ms Roberts that they ever had sex, which she claims happened in 2001, in a London house following a meeting at a nightclub called Tramp

The Prince told Maitlis: ‘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'

Last night, a leading Harley Street dermatologist said anhydrosis could also be triggered by psychological trauma.

Dr Christopher Rowland Payne, of The London Clinic, said: ‘A very stressful event may result in all sorts of different consequences.

‘The power of the subconscious brain is extremely strong. For example, there is the condition of psychogenic blindness that sometimes occurs in soldiers.

‘In battle situations people can, of course, be extremely psychologically traumatised. It seems implausible that somebody should go blind in such circumstances but cases of blindness do occur with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. So it is certainly possible to develop psychogenic anhydrosis.’

Dr Rowland Payne stressed he could not comment on any particular patient, and was not making any observation about Prince Andrew.

In the interview, Andrew went on to say that it was ‘only because I have done a number of things in the recent past that I am starting to be able to [sweat] again’.

Dr Rowland Payne said that there would be a number of ways to address psychogenic anhydrosis, including psychological therapy.

The Prince is not known for actively participating in sports, other than golf, so there are few photographs of him in typically sweaty situations.

One picture of him leaving the now defunct London nightclub Chinawhites at pace in summer 2000, shows him in a blue shirt with several buttons undone. There are no definite signs of sweat.

Humans sweat when we get too hot or during the ‘fight or flight’ response. The fear results in a rush of adrenaline that causes blood vessels under the skin to dilate.

People also sweat when they are sexually excited, with special glands in the armpits and groin releasing a type of musky sweat that can attract – or repel – potential mates.