A lawsuit filed by The Heritage Foundation, challenging Prince Harry’s U.S. visa status due to his admissions of drug use in his memoir Spare, has been officially “terminated,” according to a report by Newsweek. The conservative think tank argued that the Duke of Sussex’s public disclosures about his drug use should render him inadmissible to live and work in the United States.
The legal battle revolved around Prince Harry’s confessions in Spare, where he openly detailed his experiences with illegal substances such as cocaine, marijuana, and magic mushrooms. “Of course…I had been doing cocaine around this time. At someone’s country house, during a shooting weekend, I’d been offered a line, and I’d done a few more since,” Harry wrote.
The Heritage Foundation filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), seeking to make Harry’s visa documents public. The organization’s lawyers argued, “[The case] comes about in the main because HRH [His Royal Highness] voluntarily—and for immense profit—admitted in writing to the elements of any number of controlled substance violations, told Sky News. The Duke of Sussex did so despite the fact that it is widely known that such admissions can have adverse immigration consequences for non-citizens.”
However, government attorneys countered that disclosing Prince Harry’s visa records would violate his privacy, stressing that “the records would reveal the types of documents that Prince Harry used to travel to the United States, his admission status, and any immigration, or non-immigration, benefits that he may have sought” under FOIA rules.
Earlier this year, Judge Carl J. Nichols requested to review Prince Harry’s visa records privately, and lawyers for the Biden administration confirmed in April that they had complied. Court records reveal that the case was officially terminated on September 9, following several sealed orders issued by Judge Nichols in Washington, D.C.
Kyle Brosnan, chief counsel for The Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, expressed disappointment over the lack of transparency, stating, “Prince Harry repeatedly admitted to using illegal drugs in his memoir. This fact alone makes him inadmissible into the United States.” He further explained that the lawsuit aimed to uncover whether Harry had received “preferential treatment” upon entering the country.
Brosnan added, “It appears the judge has ruled, and that ruling is under seal. No one should read into the order, or the fact that it is under seal. We will continue to monitor the situation.”
While the case has been dismissed, questions remain about whether Harry’s visa documents will stay confidential and if any details about his immigration status will ever be publicly revealed.