The American judiciary on Tuesday will consider an appeal by a conservative group wanting to know more about the visa Prince Harry was granted despite admitting to having used drugs in the United States.
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A far cry from the London court where the Duke of Sussex has just testified against press “hostility” towards him, a federal judge in Washington will devote a hearing to a more technical request from the Heritage Foundation.
According to freedom of information laws, this claims the immigration files of the prince, who settled in California with his American wife Meghan Markle in a dispute with the British royal family.
The youngest son of King Charles III. “publicly admitted … to a number of drug-related offenses in the United States and abroad. According to the appointment of this foundation, which is very influential in conservative legal circles, US law normally prohibits such persons from entering the country.
It is based in particular on Prince Harry’s memoir, published in January, in which he admitted to using cannabis, psychotropic drugs and cocaine in the United Kingdom, Lesotho and American soil.
In 2002, “I was offered a line at someone’s country house during a hunting weekend, I’ve since taken a few others,” he wrote notably in Le Suppléant, where he also recounts that he “swallowed” hallucinogenic mushrooms at a party in Los Angeles in 2016.
“Psychedelic drugs have done me a little good, too. I took it for fun for several years (…), then for therapeutic, medical purposes,” he adds, presenting himself as a young “unlucky one” ready to try anything to “change status”.
However, the Heritage Foundation notes that other personalities, including footballer Maradona and singer Amy Winehouse, have been denied entry to American soil because of their drug use.
In particular, she would like to have access to the questionnaire to be filled out for entry into the USA, in which each candidate must state whether he has ever used drugs.
While acknowledging that these documents “might be of some interest to the public,” the federal government responds that it “does not currently have sufficient evidence to assess whether other interests are not more important,” and ensures that there is no rush to create these documents to record publicly.