A US court has ordered that Prince Harry’s immigration files must be made public by Tuesday.
District Judge Carl Nichols ordered the release of the documents based on a freedom of information (FOI) request by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative US think tank in Washington DC.
The foundation alleges that the prince concealed his past use of drugs, which should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.
The allegations centre around the Duke of Sussex’s claims in his memoir Spare, where he referenced to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms.
In the book, published in January 2023, Prince Harry wrote that he first tried cocaine at the age of 17.
“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,” he added.
He also wrote about using marijuana, saying “cocaine didn’t do anything for me”, but “marijuana is different, that actually really did help me”.
Application forms for US visas specifically ask about current and past drug use.
Admissions of drug use can lead to non-immigrant and immigrant visa applications being rejected, although immigration officers have discretion to make a final decision based on different factors.
The Heritage Foundation alleges that Prince Harry lied about his use of drugs to US immigration authorities, which can lead to a lifetime ban from the United States.
The BBC has contacted the White House and the duke’s office for comment.
The court’s ruling comes after a 2024 ruling by the same judge which said that there was not enough public interest in disclosing Prince Harry’s immigration records.
The Heritage Foundation contested that ruling and pushed for the judgement to be changed.
Prince Harry moved to the United States with his wife Meghan in 2020 after stepping down as a working royal. It is not clear what visa he entered the country on, while the duchess is a US citizen.
President Donald Trump previously ruled out deporting Prince Harry in February, telling the New York Post “I’ll leave him alone… He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
Meghan has been a vocal critic of Trump in the past, labelling him a “misogynist”.
