SPARED NO MORE

Prince Harry Bombshell as Judge Orders U.S. Visa Docs Released

Did the Duke of Sussex receive special treatment from the Biden administration? A new ruling will finally (maybe) answer that question.

After months of legal wrangling, a Washington D.C. judge has ordered the U.S. government to make public much of Prince Harry’s visa application next week, reigniting speculation over whether the Duke of Sussex received special treatment from the Biden administration.

The ruling is in response to a case brought by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, and revolves around Harry’s admission of drug use in his bestselling memoir Spare.

Heritage claims drug use should have disqualified Harry from obtaining a visa, and wants to know if he lied or received a special waiver from the Biden administration.

Thus far, the application has remained shrouded in secrecy. But that will all change next week, after a Donald Trump-appointed judge ruled, according to a report in the Daily Mail, that the government is now being ordered to lodge on the docket redacted versions of Harry’s application documents by Tuesday.

Trump recently said he would not deport Harry because “he’s got enough problems with his wife,” however the visa application still has the potential to embarrass the Duke of Sussex.

One possibility that has been floated is that Harry is on an A-1 visa, typically reserved for heads of state, which could make any concerns about drug use irrelevant. Harry’s team has always said he was “truthful” in his application.

An A-1 could render the Heritage Foundation’s challenge a moot point—though it would certainly fuel further controversy over whether and why the Biden administration decided to accommodate the prince.

The think tank noted that Harry revealed he had used hard, soft, and psychedelic drugs in his memoir, Spare—in which Harry, among other stories, wrote of the time he got high on mushrooms at Friends star Courteney Cox’s house. He also revealed he had used cocaine at 17 “to feel different.”

The Daily Beast has previously reported on the residency jeopardy Harry could face if Trump, who has a personal animus toward him and Meghan, were elected.

An immigration lawyer told the Daily Beast that Harry could be vulnerable to a politically motivated attack on his residential status, saying: “Department of State decisions are discretionary and very susceptible to political influence. His visa could be canceled. He could be denied entry upon return to the U.S. from foreign travel for inadmissibility due to prior drug usage, despite an unexpired visa in his passport. There are many scenarios where political influence could impact Harry’s ability to re-enter the U.S.”

British TV star Nigella Lawson was denied entry to the U.S. over admissions of drug use in 2013.

The Sussex-Trump feud dates to a 2016 Comedy Central show in which Meghan, then an actress and not linked to Harry, expressed her contempt for Trump, labeling him “misogynistic” and “divisive.”

Trump later referred to her comment as “nasty” and in 2022, Trump told Piers Morgan: “Harry is whipped like no person I think I’ve ever seen.” He predicted the couple would divorce, saying, “It’ll end, and it’ll end bad… I want to know what’s going to happen when Harry decides he’s had enough of being bossed around… Or maybe when she decides that she likes some other guy better. I want to know what’s going to happen when it ends, OK?”

Eric Trump earlier this year called the Duke and Duchess “spoiled apples,” adding, “You can happily have those two. We might not want them anymore; it feels like they’re on an island of their own.”

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Tom SykesEuropean Editor at Large

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