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Full Prince Harry allegations in US visa court case - from drug-taking to 'bragging'

Prince Harry has been hit with several explosive allegations as he stands accused of lying on his US visa application. Currently living with...



Prince Harry has been hit with several explosive allegations as he stands accused of lying on his US visa application.


Currently living with his wife Meghan Markle and children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet in Montecito, California, the former working royal's full-time visa application is being reviewed in private. It's only just been handed to a judge via Joe Biden's lawyers.


Think tank group The Heritage Foundation launched a lawsuit against Harry after he admitted taking drugs in his tell-all memoir Spare, as applicants are asked questions about their drug-taking history while filling out the form.


But what are some of the allegations and the reason behind the legal battle? Here the Mirror takes a look inside the claims.


Drug-taking confessions

Detailing his experience taking magic mushrooms, Harry wrote in Spare: "I stared at the bin. It stared back. 'What—staring?' Then it became... a head. I stepped on the pedal and the head opened its mouth. A huge open grin."


Harry has also admitted to using other substances such as cocaine and marijuana. In another part of the book, Harry said: "Psychedelics did me some good as well. I'd experimented with them over the years, for fun, but now I'd begun to use them therapeutically, medicinally. They didn't simply allow me to escape reality for a while."


He explained: "They let me redefine reality. Under the influence of these substances, I was able to let go of rigid preconcepts, to see that there was another world beyond my heavily filtered senses, a world that was equally real and doubly beautiful—a world with no red mist."


Accused of lying in his application

The group's entire claims are based on his initial application for his US visa, with The Heritage Foundation thinking there's public interest in releasing the normally confidential document if Harry lied on his application.


They're demanding to see Harry's original application to see if he declared the drug-taking admitted in his book in his papers, something which could affect his application, or if he lied about them altogether. The application is now being reviewed in private.


A court filing read: "Defendant the U.S. Department of Homeland Security respectfully informs the court that it has complied with the court's March 7, 2024, order by submitting declarations with attachments for ex parte in camera [in private] review."


Profit making claims

The think tank also states in its lawsuit that Prince Harry's candid confessions in Spare, which include him talking openly about taking magic mushrooms, were done for "immense profit". They suggested Harry's antics were mentioned to make money.


"[The case] comes about in the main because HRH [His Royal Highness] voluntarily—and for immense profit—admitted in writing to the elements of any number of controlled substance violations," a previous filing from the organisation stated.


'Bragging and encouraging drug use'

Later in its filing, The Heritage Foundation said that Prince Harry was "bragging" about drug taking in Spare, linking everything to his first US visa application. It added, "Indeed, some say HRH has approached the point of bragging and encouraging illegal drug use."


"The Duke of Sussex did so despite the fact that it is widely known that such admissions can have adverse immigration consequences for non-citizens and despite employing preeminent legal advisors on both sides of the Atlantic." Judge Carl Nichols, who is overseeing the battle, is looking privately at Harry's documents after a ruling in March.


Judge ruling

His order said: "Having reviewed the parties' written submissions and heard oral argument on the motions, the court concludes that in camera review is necessary to determine whether the records in dispute come within the scope of the claimed exemptions.


"It is therefore ordered that, on or before March 21, 2024, defendant shall submit to the court in camera a declaration or declarations that detail, with particularity, the records it is withholding and the particular harm that would arise from public disclosure of them."