Prince Harry would be on his own under me, declares Donald Trump

Donald Trump has warned that if he is re-elected as president Prince Harry will be ‘on his own’ and criticised the royal for his ‘unforgivable” betrayal of the late queen.

Meghan and Harry attend Invictus Games Vancouver’s One Year To Go Winter Training Camp earlier this month in Whistler, British Columbia. Picture: Getty Images

Donald Trump has warned that if he is re-elected as president Prince Harry will be “on his own” and criticised the Duke of Sussex for his “unforgivable” betrayal of the late queen.

The former president said that Joe Biden’s administration had been “too gracious” to the duke since he moved to the US with his wife, Meghan Markle, in 2020.

Speaking on the fringes of the Conservative Political Action Conference at the weekend, Mr Trump told the UK Express he would not protect the prince.

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

Prince Harry’s US immigration records are the focus of a lawsuit, with the Biden administration resisting calls for the documents to be made public to reveal if the duke lied about his drug use when entering the US.

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

His comments followed a court hearing in Washington on Friday brought by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank that has alleged Harry lied about his drug use on his visa application or received preferential treatment. In his memoir, Spare, the 39-year-old prince admitted to having used marijuana, magic mushrooms and cocaine.

US visa applicants who admit to illegal drug use are generally denied entry, though the government is permitted to make exceptions.

At Friday’s hearing the government argued that the admissions in the prince’s book were not “proof” that he had taken drugs.

John Bardo, a lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security, told the court: “Just saying something in a book doesn’t make it true.

“There are multiple lawful ways that the duke might have entered the US and do not show government impropriety.”

The Heritage Foundation claims there is public interest in revealing whether the prince lied to enter the US.

Holding up a copy of Spare in court Samuel Dewey, a lawyer for the Heritage Foundation, said the duke “explicitly admitted at length to drug use” in his book.

Nile Gardiner, of the Heritage Foundation, said: “There is a clear public interest in establishing whether or not Prince Harry lied on his immigration application. If that is the case, it is a criminal offence.”

He asked why the Biden administration was “fighting on behalf of Prince Harry” to protect his privacy when he was “one of the most public figures in the world today, of his own volition”.

Mr Trump has criticised the duke and duchess before for having treated the queen with disrespect. “I didn’t like the way they dealt with the queen. I became very friendly with the queen,” he told a radio interviewer in September.

“She was an incredible woman. I think it’s not a good situation going on with the two of them.”

Meanwhile, a documentary featuring Prince Harry has appeared on the US streaming service Hulu. The 20-minute program contains no new material and is, in effect, a combination of an interview with ABC News that the duke gave earlier this month to promote the Invictus Games and archive footage. The documentary follows the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s five-year deal with Netflix, which was reported to be worth $US100m.

The Times