
A legal battle over the transparency of Prince Harry’s visa application continues to unfold as the Heritage Foundation raises concerns about potential preferential treatment granted to the Duke of Sussex. The foundation, a conservative think tank, has vowed to appeal a ruling by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols that allows Harry’s visa application to remain private, citing privacy rights despite the prince’s very public revelations in his memoir Spare.
Mike Howell, executive director of the Heritage Foundation’s Oversight Project, called the ruling “suspicious,” suggesting that redactions in the judgment indicate there may be “something serious afoot.” The group contends that Harry’s admission of past drug use in his memoir could have made him ineligible for U.S. residency and that his visa application should be scrutinized to ensure fairness in the immigration process.
The case stems from the Heritage Foundation’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, filed in 2023, seeking to release details of Harry’s visa application. The lawsuit argues that Harry, by publicly disclosing intimate details of his life for commercial gain, has waived his right to privacy.
Judge Nichols, a Trump appointee, ruled that despite Harry’s public persona, certain details in the visa application were entitled to privacy protections. This has led to a growing backlash, with the foundation suggesting that the redacted portions of the ruling might hide instances of preferential treatment due to Harry’s royal status.
In his statement, Howell vowed to continue fighting for transparency, stating that Americans deserve an immigration system with fairly applied rules for everyone, including high-profile figures like Prince Harry. He hinted that more revelations might surface in the future, making a snide comment that perhaps Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle would eventually disclose the full story in a Netflix special.
The legal tussle has attracted attention, particularly given Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s controversial relationship with the British royal family and their efforts to monetize their celebrity status in the U.S. The Heritage Foundation’s ongoing appeal aims to clarify whether Harry was subject to the same scrutiny as other immigrants, or whether his royal background afforded him special treatment.