Prince Harry returning to UK for court battle; US visa furore deepens

The Duke of Sussex is set to return to London – just as his father King Charles leaves for a solo holiday. It comes as a court case on the LA-based royal’s US visa heats up.

Prince Harry recently attended the Coronation of King Charles in London, England. Picture: Getty Images. Picture: Getty Images.

King Charles will miss Prince Harry’s visit to London next week because he is going on a five-day solo hiking trip in Transylvania.

The Duke of Sussex is set to return to the UK as part of his court battle against Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN) over phone hacking allegations.

However, he and his father are not likely to meet with reports King Charles will be holidaying at one of his homes in rural Transylvania.

Prince Harry leaving the Royal Courts of Justice last March. Picture: Getty Images

Prince Harry during his whirlwind trip to the UK for the coronation. Picture: Getty Images

Prince Harry’s last visit to the UK was a whirlwind trip for his father’s coronation.

According to reports, the Prince spent just 28 hours on home soil and did not meet up with any family members.

It comes as the furore over the California-based royal’s US visa escalates.

The US government will appear in a federal court next Tuesday to answer questions regarding Prince Harry’s visa application after he admitted to using illegal drugs in his memoir, Spare.

The Heritage Foundation, a Washington DC-based conservative think-tank, is suing Joe Biden’s administration to force officials to release the Duke of Sussex’s immigration files.

The organisation wants to know how the Prince managed to get into the US, after he revealed in his bombshell memoir – as well as in multiple TV interviews promoting the book – to having previously used cocaine, cannabis and psychedelic mushrooms.

Prince Harry arriving at the coronation of his father, King Charles, at Westminster Abbey. Picture: Getty Images

US authorities have so far refused to make the 38-year-old royal’s visa application public.

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, tweeted on Tuesday that the hearing will be in DC federal court on June 6.

Mr Gardiner touted the upcoming hearing — likely the first of many to come — as a “very significant development.”

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards in New York City. Picture: Getty Images

A decision to unseal immigration records could have implications for Harry’s status in the US given an admission of drug use can see a visa application rejected.

“It significantly raises the stakes here,” Mr Gardiner told The Telegraph. “I think that so far the Biden administration has been stonewalling the freedom.”

Any foreign national seeking to obtain a US visa or permanent resident status is required to answer questions about their past drug use.

Under US immigration law, a visa applicant who is “determined to be a drug abuser” is deemed “inadmissable” — although immigration officials are permitted to make exceptions, the NY Post reports.

A decision to unseal immigration records could have implications for the status of Prince Harry, pictured with wife Meghan Markle, in the US. Picture: AFP

“Widespread and continuous media coverage has surfaced the question of whether DHS properly admitted the Duke of Sussex in light of the fact that he has publicly admitted to the essential elements of a number of drug offences in both the United States and abroad,” the Heritage Foundation’s complaint reads.

The think tank also questioned whether the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status in the US should be “reconsidered” in light of the revelations contained in his book.

Sources close to Prince Harry have previously said he answered questions truthfully on his application seeking a US visa.

The Heritage Foundation argued that it is in the public interest to know exactly what Prince Harry wrote in his application — and how it was handled by the Biden administration.

“Did DHS in fact look the other way, play favourites, or fail to appropriately respond to any potential false statements by Prince Harry?” the organisation wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Originally published as Prince Harry returning to UK for court battle; US visa furore deepens