President Donald Trump seems to have ruled out deporting the Duke of Sussex from the US, it has been reported.
Harry now lives in Montecito, California, with his wife Meghan and their children, but questions had been raised about his immigration status because of his admitted former drug use.
Mr Trump appeared to have ruled out deportation, telling The New York Post: “I’ll leave him alone.”
He added: “He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
US President Donald Trump (Aaron Chown/PA)
Meghan has previously been a vocal critic of former reality star Mr Trump and called him “divisive” and a “misogynist”.
Meghan said she was backing his rival, Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, and suggested then that she would leave the US if he won.
Harry’s reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book Spare prompted a conservative Washington DC think tank to question why he was allowed into the US in 2020.
In his controversial memoir, Harry said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.”
The Heritage Foundation alleged he may have concealed past illegal drug use that should have disqualified him from obtaining a US visa.
Earlier this week, the case was in the US courts for the first time since Mr Trump returned to office last month.
A judge was being asked to consider whether to vacate a previous ruling that Harry’s US visa application should remain private.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex (Jordan Pettitt/PA)
The Heritage Foundation brought the lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected, as the think tank claimed it was of “immense public interest”.
US judge Carl Nichols ruled in September 2024 that the public did not have a strong interest in disclosure of Harry’s immigration records, but the Heritage Foundation wants the judgment to be changed.
The think tank also said answers on Harry’s prior drug use in his visa application should have been disclosed, as they could raise questions over the US government’s integrity.
In the DHS’s response to the legal claim, it said: “Much like health, financial, or employment information, a person’s immigration information is private personal information.”
Mr Trump said in a GB News interview with Nigel Farage in March last year that Harry should not receive preferential treatment.
Asked if the duke should have “special privileges” if he was found to have lied on his application, Mr Trump had said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”