Prince Harry’s memoir Spare is not “proof” that he took drugs and could have been embellished to “sell books”, a lawyer for the Biden administration has told a US court.
The Duke of Sussex's visa was at the centre of a court case today, as a conservative think tank wants Harry’s US immigration files to be made public.
In his memoir Spare, the prince, 39, admitted to formerly taking marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms.
Drug use can be used as grounds to deny a US visa application, which could threaten Harry’s US immigration status.
Prince Harry's US visa was at the centre of a court case today
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The Heritage Foundation sued the Department of Homeland Security under the Freedom of Information Act claiming that Prince Harry may have received favourable treatment when applying for his visa.
The Department of Homeland Security enforces anybody entering the US to tick a yes or no box for having used drugs in the past.
The Biden administration is arguing against the papers being released on the basis that visa applicants have a right to privacy.
But the Heritage Foundation has argued that the prince undermined his right to privacy by “selling every aspect of his private life.”
Harry was open about his history with drugs in his memoir SparePAThe Heritage Foundation has argued for Harry’s immigration records to be released which will likely be followed by a written opinion.
John Bardo, a lawyer for the Biden administration, told a DC court today that “the book isn’t sworn testimony or proof” that the Duke of Sussex took illegal drugs.
He added: “Saying something in a book doesn’t necessarily make it true.”
Meanwhile, Nile Gardiner, the director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, said before the hearing that it was a “clear-cut case of transparency and accountability from the Biden administration”.
The Biden administration believes Prince Harry's US visa answers about drug should not be disclosed for privacy
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Nile Gardiner is Director of The Heritage FoundationGB NewsHe added: “No one should be above the law when it comes to applying for immigration status in the United States.”
In Spare, Harry wrote about his drug use, saying: “It wasn’t much fun, and it didn’t make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me…but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal."
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle moved to the US in the summer of 2020.
The Sussexes live in Montecito, where they are raising their two children, Prince Archie, four, and Princess Lilibet, two.