Prince Harry can breathe a sigh of relief.
Heavily redacted documents published by a U.S. court today have failed to shed any light on whether or not the former party prince declared he had used drugs when he emigrated to the United States.
The 82 pages of documents, largely in response to Freedom of Information requests, were published at the order of a D.C. court with vast swathes of text blacked out.
However, in one key segment, a non-redacted section of text confirmed that there was no “evidence of government misconduct” and that the records did “not support such an allegation but show the regulatory process involved in reviewing and granting immigration benefits was done in compliance with the Immigration and Nationality Act, and applicable rules and regulations.”
Immigration campaigners allied to the Trump administration had been hoping that the document dump Tuesday would reveal whether or not Prince Harry admitted to using drugs when he moved to the U.S.
The publication of the paperwork is the latest twist in a case brought by The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind the controversial Project 2025 initiative, and revolves around Harry’s admission of drug use in his bestselling memoir Spare. He said he used cocaine, magic mushrooms, marijuana and ayahuasca.
Heritage claims drug use would usually disqualify an individual from obtaining a visa, and want the DoJ to publish documents to show if Harry lied or received a special waiver from the Biden administration.
Courts had previously ruled that Harry had a right to expect the DoJ to respect his privacy and not publish his paperwork, but that changed with last week’s ruling by a Donald Trump-appointed judge, following months of legal wrangling. The U.S. government is now under order 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.
The Daily Beast has previously reported on the residency risk 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 back 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.”
Nile Gardiner of the Heritage Foundation said: “The fight continues, I think it’s just a matter of time until the new administration reveals Prince Harry’s immigration records.”
