Prince Harry is at the centre of a political row in the US after boasting about his illegal drug use in his memoir Spare, and in interviews to promote the book. The prince’s decision to openly admit to having used marijuana, cocaine, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca in the past has placed him in hot water.
The admission from Harry prompted a conservative pressure group, the Heritage Foundation, to try and force the US government to release details of whether or not Harry admitted to drug use when applying to live in the US.
Admission of former or ongoing drug use usually prevents a person from entering the US, and under visa rules, applicants are questioned about substance use and previous criminal charges.
One royal expert suggests that the Duke of Sussex “knew he would get away with it” with Joe Biden in the White House.
This comes after an off-the-cuff intervention from the US ambassador to London, who said Harry would never be deported under a Biden administration.
Ambassador Jane Hartley insisted that deportation action against Harry was “not going to happen in the Biden administration”.
Royal writer Lady Colin Campbell told The Daily Beast that the Duke of Sussex had been “stupid and arrogant” in being so open about his past drug use.
But, she added: “What this intervention by the American ambassador shows us is that the Biden administration were prepared to allow the king’s son into the country regardless of what rules he may or may not have broken. So, maybe he knew he would get away with it.
“The issue that perhaps Harry hadn’t thought about so clearly is what would happen if there were to be a change of government. If Trump wins, Harry may well come to regret these very foolish remarks, made no doubt at the urging of his publisher to sell a few more books.
“The reality is that no foreigner has an inviolable right to enter another country and you can be made a ‘persona non grata’ at the drop of a hat.”
Former President Trump has previously hinted that Harry could be deported if he wins the presidency.
Last night, the former editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie, said that Harry was a “protected species” for the Democrats in the US.
He told GB News: “It is special treatment, I totally agree. You can get very aggravated about it. And it’s a very odd world. But once you get into American politics, he is a protected species as far as the Democrats are concerned.”
An immigration lawyer told The Daily Beast that if Trump wins, Harry faces a very real threat.
They said: “His visa could be cancelled. He could be denied entry upon return to the US from foreign travel for inadmissibility due to prior drug usage, despite an unexpired visa in his passport. There are many scenarios where political influence could impact Harry’s ability to re-enter the US.”
