Trump: I won’t deport Prince Harry – he’s got enough problems with Meghan

Donald Trump has ruled out deporting Prince Harry from the United States, claiming the royal has “enough problems with his wife”, Meghan, whom he said was “terrible”.

In his first intervention in a long-running legal case, Trump said he had no interest in throwing the 40-year-old duke out of the country over claims of historic drug-taking, effectively drawing a line under speculation the US president might have been prepared to revoke Harry’s visa.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the opening ceremony of the Invictus Games in Vancouver on Saturday. Credit: nna

Harry has faced a lengthy legal battle over whether he lied about drug-taking on his application. He admitted to substance use in his autobiography, Spare.

When asked on Saturday by the New York Post if he would intervene, Trump said: “I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

Trump’s remarks represent a dramatic volte-face on his earlier position, when he said Harry would get no support from the White House if Trump won the election.

“I wouldn’t protect him,” he said last year. “He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”

Harry and Meghan appeared to back Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election, but toned down their views before last year’s campaign.Credit: AP

Trump was also critical of the Biden administration for resisting the push to open up Harry’s immigration records.

“I think they have been too gracious to him after what he has done,” he said.

The Heritage Foundation, a US-based conservative think tank, has alleged that Harry might have lied about his illegal drug use on immigration records or otherwise been given preferential treatment to relocate to the US.

The foundation argued that Harry waived his right to privacy when he divulged personal details in Spare.

US President Donald Trump on Friday.Credit: AP

Harry revealed in his memoir, published in January 2023, that he had taken cocaine several times as a teenager and experimented with cannabis and mushrooms.

The Heritage Foundation brought a lawsuit against the Department for Homeland Security after the department rejected a freedom of information request for access to Harry’s records.

The foundation questioned how the royal had been able to settle in the US after he had admitted illegal drug use, but Judge Carl J Nichols ruled that “the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke’s immigration records”.

The case was recently reopened on a technicality, raising the prospect the Trump administration might take a different approach.

Last March, Trump hinted that he might be prepared to intervene in the case, telling GB News: “We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”

Asked whether that meant Harry was “not staying in America”, he said: “Oh I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.”

There has been no love lost between Trump and the Sussexes.

Before marrying into the royal family, Meghan made her views about the politician known, describing him as “misogynistic” and “divisive”.

Trump meets with Prince William in Paris in December.Credit: Getty Images

Ahead of the 2020 presidential election, Harry and Meghan appeared to back Joe Biden over Trump when they released a video message urging US voters to “reject hate speech, misinformation and online negativity”.

Meghan described that election as the “most important election of our lifetime”.

The couple toned down their rhetoric before last year’s election in an apparent attempt to avoid a spat with Trump, who had said he was “no fan” of Meghan.

Trump is a huge fan of the royal family and is tipped to become the first elected politician in modern history to be hosted for two state visits by the British monarch.

He has often spoken in glowing terms about his state visit with wife Melania Trump and his adult children in June 2019, during his first US presidency.

In a documentary about his successful US election campaign last year, Trump showed off a photo album of royal meetings, and at one point called King Charles a “really good person”.

Prince William’s December meeting with Trump in Paris was considered a diplomatic coup.

Some in the British Foreign Office are said to consider William as the “secret weapon” in helping improve relations between a Keir Starmer-led UK and Trump-led US in the years ahead.

Trump later described his 30-minute chat with William as “really wonderful” and joked that the future king was a “very handsome man”.

Starmer’s government is widely expected to use Trump’s fascination with the monarchy to strike up a strong personal relationship that benefits the UK.

Telegraph, London

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