Prince Harry was “stupid” to boast about his illegal drug use in his memoir Spare, and in interviews to promote the book, royal experts have told The Daily Beast, after the American ambassador in London sharpened the political dimension of the issue by saying Harry would never be deported under a Biden administration.
Ambassador Jane Hartley’s comments that deportation action against Harry was “not going to happen in the Biden administration” have now been submitted in new court papers filed by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative pressure group trying to force the U.S. government to release details of whether or not Harry admitted to drug use when applying to live in the U.S., according to reports in the New York Post, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph.
The remarks bring a fresh political dimension to the row over Harry’s claims to have used marijuana, cocaine, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca in his memoir, Spare, and in interviews to promote the book. Admission of former or ongoing drug use is usually a bar to smoothly immigrating to the U.S. Donald Trump has strongly hinted that Harry could be deported if he wins the presidency.
Royal writer and YouTuber Lady Colin Campbell, the author of a new book about Harry and Meghan entitled Meghan and Harry, The Real Story: Persecutors or Victims told the Daily Beast: “Harry was criticized for being both stupid and arrogant by publicizing his use of illegal drugs in his memoir. But what this intervention by the American ambassador shows us is that the Biden administration were prepared to allow the king’s son into the country regardless of what rules he may or may not have broken. So, maybe he knew he would get away with it.
“The issue that perhaps Harry hadn’t thought about so clearly is what would happen if there were to be a change of government. If Trump wins, Harry may well come to regret these very foolish remarks, made no doubt at the urging of his publisher to sell a few more books. The reality is that no foreigner has an inviolable right to enter another country and you can be made a ‘persona non grata’ at the drop of a hat.”
Indeed, an immigration lawyer recently told The Daily Beast that Harry could be vulnerable to a politically motivated attack on his residential status, saying: “Department of State decisions are discretionary and very susceptible to political influence. His visa could be canceled. He could be denied entry upon return to the U.S. from foreign travel for inadmissibility due to prior drug usage, despite an unexpired visa in his passport. There are many scenarios where political influence could impact Harry’s ability to re-enter the U.S.”
Duncan Larcombe, the former royal editor for the Sun, told The Daily Beast that by writing about his previous use of drugs, Harry had now opened himself up to legitimate questions about when he most recently used them.
