Prince Harry in New York last month
The court battle over making Prince Harry’s US visa public should be reopened because the US government made certain submissions in secret, it has been claimed.
After admitting to using marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his controversial memoir Spare, a lawsuit from the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation argued that the Government should release records about the Duke’s visa US application to show whether his drug use was disclosed.
The Washington-based foundation said that “widespread and continuous” coverage of Harry’s drug use called into question whether or not the Government had ‘properly vetted’ the Prince and followed the right procedures when allowing him into the country. The group argued that the US law “generally renders such a person inadmissible for entry” to the country.
However, a US judge has ruled last month that Harry’s application should remain private. Carl Nichols said that “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records”. He added: “Like any foreign national, the duke has a legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status.”
But the row could be reignited as the Heritage Foundation has made another court filing saying it was not granted access to private submissions made to the judge by the Biden administration. The 13-page motion was filed on Tuesday says that the case was ‘unique’ and complex but adds there is “ample evidence of agency bad faith” meaning this “severely compromises [Heritage’s] ability to prepare arguments on appeal”.
Harry with wife Meghan Markle in Colombia
The lawsuit was originally brought by the Heritage Foundation after a Freedom of Information request for the Duke’s records was rejected by the Department for Homeland Security (DHS).
In his bombshell memoir, which is being re-released in the UK today in paperback, Harry confessed that cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.” He also recounts an experience with magic mushrooms, saying: “I stared at the bin. It stared back. ‘What-staring? ‘ Then it became… a head. I stepped on the pedal and the head opened its mouth. A huge open grin.”
Speaking about his use of hallucinogens during an online chat with trauma expert Gabor Maté, Harry explained: “It was the cleaning of the windscreen, the removal of life’s filters — these layers of filters. It removed it all for me and brought me a sense of relaxation, relief, comfort, a lightness that I managed to hold back for a period of time.”
US visa applications specifically asks the individual about current and past drug use, which can have a detrimental impact on the progress of the application. Prolific drug use can lead to applications being being rejected, however immigration officers use their discretion against a range of factors.