Trump pledges not to deport prince — and levels insult at Meghan

The President’s surprising decision - and jibe at the Duchess of Sussex - follows a legal battle over the Duke’s US visa status.

Donald Trump has ruled out deporting Prince Harry from the US.

Donald Trump has ruled out deporting Prince Harry from the US.

Speaking for the first time about the case since he returned to the White House, Trump told The New York Post, in response to a question: “I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

The Duke of Sussex, 40, and the duchess, 43, who have two children, Archie, five, and Lilibet, three, moved to Montecito in California after they decided to step down as senior royals five years ago.

During the past two years, the couple have been targeted by a right-wing think tank, the Heritage Foundation, which has demanded that the US government publish details of Harry’s immigration status.

While Trump was critical of Meghan, the president also praised her brother-in-law, the Prince of Wales, whom he met privately in Paris in December during the reopening ceremony for Notre-Dame Cathedral. “I think William is a great young man,” he said.

Donald Trump meets Prince William at the UK Ambassador's Residence on the day of the reopening ceremonies of the Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral, December. Picture: Aaron Chown/Getty Images

The Heritage Foundation, which is behind the conservative Project 2025 initiative that includes plans to remove checks on executive power, alleges that Harry may have concealed his past use of illegal drugs to obtain a US visa.

In his memoir Spare, which was published in January 2023, Harry stated that he had taken cocaine as a teenager and had dabbled with cannabis and “magic mushrooms”.

The Sussexes’ relationship with Trump is believed to be antagonistic after they called on Americans to exercise their right to vote during the 2020 presidential election. Supporters of Trump interpreted this as a tacit endorsement for his then-rival, Joe Biden.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle appear together in a video for the Global Ministerial Conference on Violence Against Children in Colombia on November 7

Meghan, who is politically liberal, has also called Trump “divisive” and “misogynistic”. In turn, Trump said in 2022 that Harry was “whipped” by his wife, adding: “I think poor Harry is being led around by the nose.”

Last week, a US district court met to discuss the Heritage Foundation’s long-running battle to make Harry’s immigration application documents public. A freedom of information request for the same information had previously been thrown out on the grounds that Harry has a right to keep the documents private.

However, last week, in Washington, the judge, Carl Nichols, indicated that he might be willing to unseal some documents, to allow “maximum disclosure as long as it doesn’t violate privacy”.

The Times