Prince Harry is embroiled in a legal battle over his US visa after admitting to drug use in his memoir Spare.
The Duke of Sussex visa is at the centre of a court case today against the US Government in a bid to force officials to release Harry’s US immigration files.
In his tell-all memoir, the prince admitted to taking marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in the past.
Drug use can be considered as grounds to deny a US visa application which threatens Harry’s US immigration status.
A conservative think tank is arguing that Prince Harry’s visa application should be made public to find out whether the duke declared to using drugs before entering the US in 2020.
The Heritage Foundation sued the Department of Homeland security under the Freedom of Information Act claiming that Harry may have received favourable treatment when applying for his visa.
The Department of Homeland Security enforce anybody entering the US to tick a yes or no box to using drugs.
The Biden administration is arguing against the papers being released on the basis that visa applicants have a right to privacy.
But the Heritage Foundation are arguing the case that the prince undermined his right to privacy by “selling every aspect of his private life.”
Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom expressed his concern about the Biden administration supporting the duke and keeping the papers hidden from the American public.
Gardiner told the Daily Express US: “We want to establish whether or not Prince Harry lied on his immigration application with regard to his drug use.
“If Harry had nothing to hide, he should welcome the release of those records.”
LATEST ROYAL NEWS:
Gardiner continued: “The American people have a right to know whether or not immigration laws are being enforced and applied equally without favour, without preferential treatment.”
In a court hearing today the Heritage Foundation will argue for Harry’s immigration records to be released and will likely be followed by a written opinion.
In Spare, Harry admitted to using cocaine when he was a teenager, smoking marijuana at Eton and taking psychedelic mushrooms on a trip to California.
He revealed about his cocaine use: “It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me…but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal."
