U.S. unseals Prince Harry’s visa records but keeps key details hidden

The U.S. government on Tuesday released documents related to a legal battle over Prince Harry’s 2020 visa application but redacted large portions, citing privacy protections and a lack of evidence that he received special treatment.

The release follows a lawsuit by the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, which filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine whether the British royal disclosed his past drug use—something he admitted to in his memoir Spare.

More than 80 pages of court filings and transcripts were made public, with large sections blacked out. Immigration officials argued that the public interest did not outweigh Harry’s right to privacy.

"Plaintiffs allege that the records should be disclosed as public confidence in the government would suffer or to establish whether the Duke was granted preferential treatment. This speculation... does not point to any evidence of government misconduct," wrote Jarrod Panter, an official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

In Spare, released in 2023, Harry admitted to using cocaine and marijuana. U.S. immigration laws can bar entry to individuals with past drug use, raising questions over how his application was handled.

Harry and his wife Meghan Markle left their royal duties in 2020 and moved to the United States. Neither Harry nor the Heritage Foundation has commented on the document release.

Copied