A judge has ruled that the Duke of Sussex’s US visa application must remain secret despite him admitting to drug use in his memoirs.
Prince Harry has written about his use of cannabis, cocaine and hallucinogenic mushrooms in his memoir Spare, which is due to be released in January 2023.
A lawsuit from the conservative Heritage Foundation sought to force the government to release records to prove whether drug use was disclosed.
But US District Judge Carl Nichols ruled on Monday that “there is no real public interest in the disclosure of the duke’s immigration records”.
“Like any foreign citizen, the duke has a legal right to privacy over his immigration status,” he added.
Prince Harry moved to the United States in January 2020 after announcing that he and his wife, Meghan Markle, would step back from royal duties.
In a lawsuit last yearThe prominent Washington DC-based research group argued that “extensive and sustained” media coverage of Prince Harry’s admissions to drug use raised questions about whether the government properly vetted the duke and followed proper procedures when allowing him entry.
The US visa application form has specific requirements regarding current and past drug use.
Drug use can result in denial of both nonimmigrant and immigrant visa applications, although immigration officers have discretion to make the final decision based on a number of factors.
The Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit argues that U.S. law “generally makes such persons inadmissible” to the country.
In his memoirs, the duke said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me” and added: “Cannabis was different, it actually helped me.”
But Judge Nichols said the public interest in revealing Prince Harry’s immigration records “outweighs the duke’s privacy interests”.
