US government cites Donald Trump as a reason to refuse calls to make Prince Harry’s visa status public

As a legal battle was waged to reveal Harry’s US visa status, the government looked to Donald Trump for a surprising reason.

Lawyers for the US government have looked to a surprising source of inspiration in a bid to fight a legal battle over Prince Harry’s visa status.

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, recently sued the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) under the Freedom of Information Act after its request to have the details of the visa Prince Harry used to enter the US was denied.

It was attempting to discover if, given his admissions of drug use in his autobiography Spare, if he has been given preferential treatment as a member of the royal family.

The US government was sued in a bid to discover Prince Harry’s visa status considering his past drug use. Photo: Don Mackinnon / AFP.

Under US law, anyone who has taken drugs, or labelled as a “drug abuser” is in danger of being deemed “inadmissable” to America, and their strict laws have prevented other famous faces, such as celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, from entering the United States.

In a bid to fight the demand from the Heritage Foundation, it’s emerged that the US government argued in February that a recent court ruling about Trump’s privacy suggests that Prince Harry should be afforded the same protection.

John Bardo, a lawyer for the department, reportedly said at the time that the Trump case involved possible interactions he may have had with the FBI prior to 2015, when he was a private citizen.

This information too was sought under an FOIA request.

“They found that President Trump, from when he was a private citizen, his privacy interests outweighed any public interest that there may be in previous interactions he may have had with the FBI,” Mr Bardo said.

“And I would argue, if President Trump has a privacy interest in that kind of interaction with the government, Prince Harry’s privacy interest is even greater.

“Because he was never a governmental official in this country, has never appeared on a ballot in this country.”

A previous case involving Trump’s privacy was referenced by lawyers in a bid to keep the details of Harry’s visa being made public. Photo: Getty Images via AFP.

Earlier this year, Prince Harry listed the United States as his primary residence for the first time since severing his ties to the royal family in 2020.

Despite the legal change, Harry explained in December 2023 that he still considered the UK to be his “home” but felt “forced” to flee to the US due to safety concerns.

“The UK is central to the heritage of my children and a place I want them to feel at home as much as where they live at the moment in the US,” the duke said in a written statement read in a London court amid his legal bid for taxpayer-funded police security — which was denied.

“That cannot happen if it’s not possible to keep them safe when they are on UK soil.”

Since then, the red-headed royal has expressed interest in getting American citizenship.

Originally published as US government cites Donald Trump as a reason to refuse calls to make Prince Harry’s visa status public