Prince Harry’s U.S. visa documents are set to be made public this week, following a months-long legal battle.
The Duke of Sussex moved to the United States from the UK in 2020 with his wife Meghan, after stepping back from their royal duties.
US conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation has pushed for documents that allowed him entry to be revealed, and successfully appealed a September ruling that there was no substantial public interest in doing so.
Here’s what we know about the case, and what could be revealed when the visa papers are made public this week.
The case came about when right-wing The Heritage Foundation sought to find out whether Harry had lied on his immigration paperwork about past drug use, or whether he had received special treatment to enter the US.
The foundation argued there was “intense public interest” in knowing whether the Duke of Sussex had been truthful, after his 2023 memoir Spare revealed he had used cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms in the past.
Heritage’s attorney Samuel Dewey previously said if he lied, Harry could be deported. “People are routinely deported for lying on immigration forms,” he previously said.
Judge Carl Nichols initially ruled in September 2024 that there was minimal public interest in making Harry’s visa documents public.
The ruling came after the Department of Homeland Security rejected an FOI request from The Heritage Foundation.
But in February, the department agreed to release redacted versions of the forms, as long as the disclosure would not violate Harry’s privacy.
Judge Nicholes said during a February hearing that he wanted “maximum disclosure as long as it doesn’t violate privacy,” and in court documents dated 15 March, he directed the Department of Homeland Security to release redacted versions of the documents by Tuesday this week.
Prince Harry moved to California with his wife Meghan in 2020 after stepping down as senior royals, as his relationship with his family, including his father King Charles III and his brother Prince William, continued to deteriorate.
The prince has since been increasingly open about the details of his private life. In his memoir Spare, Harry wrote he first started taking cocaine when he was 17 years old “to feel different” and said “it wasn’t very fun”, but said marijuana “really did help me” deal with trauma.
The Duke of Sussex has said he plans to stay in the U.S. for good.
