Prince Harry's Visa Application Handed Over to Judge

Prince Harry's U.S. visa application has been handed over to a U.S. judge after President Joe Biden's administration lawyers confirmed they had complied with a court order.

The Duke of Sussex's drug use is the subject of a high-profile lawsuit brought by The Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C.

The conservative think tank filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the royal's immigration papers in order to determine whether he was open or misleading about his past use of drugs including cannabis, cocaine, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca, as detailed in his book Spare.

The Heritage Foundation argue they have a right to know whether Harry was given favorable treatment due to his royal status.

A court filing, seen by Newsweek, read: "Defendant the U.S. Department of Homeland Security respectfully informs the court that it has complied with the court's March 7, 2024, order by submitting declarations with attachments for ex parte in camera [in private] review."

The documents were submitted via an encrypted link, the filing said.

Newsweek approached Prince Harry for comment on Wednesday.

DHS has maintained from the outset that it cannot publicly release Prince Harry's visa records as this would breach his privacy, with a past filing arguing: "Courts consistently hold that a person's visa or immigration status is private, personal information exempt from disclosure."

"Specifically," it added, "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."

However, Heritage say there is a public interest in knowing whether Harry was honest in his visa application and if so how he managed to obtain entry into America given his past use of a wide range of drugs.

A previous filing by Heritage read: "[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. (Indeed, some say HRH has approached the point of bragging and encouraging illegal drug use.)

"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 and despite employing preeminent legal advisors on both sides of the Atlantic."

Judge Carl Nichols decided on March 7 that he should see Harry's immigration documents himself privately to help him determine whether DHS was right to argue they are exempt from release under FOIA rules.

His order read: "Having reviewed the parties' written submissions and heard oral argument on the motions, the court concludes that in camera review is necessary to determine whether the records in dispute come within the scope of the claimed exemptions.

"It is therefore ordered that, on or before March 21, 2024, defendant shall submit to the court in camera a declaration or declarations that detail, with particularity, the records it is withholding and the particular harm that would arise from public disclosure of them."

Harry wrote in Spare about a range of experiences with drugs, including on U.S. soil, for example, during a party at Courteney Cox's house when he took magic mushrooms and had a conversation with a trash can in her toilet.

"I stared at the bin [British slang for trash can]," he wrote. "It stared back. 'What—staring?' Then it became...a head. I stepped on the pedal and the head opened its mouth. A huge open grin.

"I laughed, turned away, took a piss. Now the loo became a head too. The bowl was its gaping maw, the hinges of the seat were its piercing silver eyes.

"It said: 'Aaah.' I finished, flushed, closed its mouth. I turned back to the silver bin, stepped on the pedal, fed it an empty packet of cigarettes from my pocket. 'Open wide.' 'Aaah. Thank you, mate.' 'You're welcome, mate.'"

When presented with the allegations in the book, Cox said: "It's gotten back to me about it. I'm not saying there were mushrooms! I definitely wasn't passing them out."

Another section of the book read: "Psychedelics did me some good as well. I'd experimented with them over the years, for fun, but now I'd begun to use them therapeutically, medicinally.

"They didn't simply allow me to escape reality for a while, they let me redefine
reality.

"Under the influence of these substances I was able to let go of rigid preconcepts, to see that there was another world beyond my heavily filtered senses, a world that was equally real and doubly beautiful—a world with no red mist, no reason for red mist.

"There was only truth. After the psychedelics wore off my memory of that world would remain: This is not all there is.

"All the great seers and philosophers say our daily life is an illusion. I always felt the truth in that. But how reassuring it was, after nibbling a mushroom, or ingesting ayahuasca, to experience it for myself."

Jack Royston is Newsweek's chief royal correspondent based in London. You can find him on X, formerly Twitter, at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, Prince William and Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.

Correction 04/10/24 08:42 a.m. ET: This article was updated with a correction to the spelling of Courteney