Thousands of records from the US State Department regarding a legal dispute over Prince Harry’s US visa are set to be unveiled soon. Last year, the Duke of Sussex became entangled in a conflict over his visa application documents after the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington DC, requested the disclosure of his visa paperwork in response to his disclosures about previous drug use in his memoir, “Spare.”
Despite efforts to make Harry’s visa application details public, the courts upheld his privacy rights. This prompted the Heritage Foundation to initiate a new legal action against the US State Department, urging the release of additional documents related to the prince. Consequently, a review of 307 documents totaling 2,487 pages was mandated, and following months of processing, the initial batch of files is scheduled for release at the end of July.
The Mirror has reached out to representatives of the Duke of Sussex and the Heritage Foundation for comments. The US State Department declined to comment on the ongoing litigation. The Heritage Foundation aims to uncover documents supporting its claims that Harry received preferential treatment from the US government during his visa application process.
Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, permanently relocated to the United States in 2020 after stepping down from their royal duties. Legal representatives for the Heritage Foundation argued in court that Harry either failed to disclose his past drug use in his visa application or was granted favorable treatment. In his autobiography “Spare,” Harry openly admitted to using various drugs and contended that this should have made him ineligible to enter the US.
A joint court filing by Heritage and the State Department in June revealed plans to release nonexempt portions of the responsive records by the end of July 2026, with subsequent regular releases every eight weeks. This development may shed light on how Harry is perceived within the US government and what details he provided in his visa application.
The upcoming release of these documents follows a ruling in September 2024 by US District Judge Carl Nichols, who initially found no strong public interest in disclosing Harry’s immigration records, a decision challenged by the Heritage Foundation. The organization’s legal team criticized the Biden administration for allegedly favoring Prince Harry to the detriment of public trust in immigration law enforcement.
John Bardo, representing the Department of Homeland Security under the Joe Biden administration, cast doubt on the veracity of Harry’s claims in “Spare,” emphasizing that statements in a book do not necessarily constitute truth and that revealing such records would infringe on Harry’s privacy rights.
Former US President Donald Trump, in a GB News interview with Nigel Farage in March 2024, expressed that Harry should not receive special treatment. Trump highlighted the importance of addressing any potential falsehoods in Harry’s application, suggesting appropriate actions if he had been dishonest.
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