Prince Harry just scored a big court win on Sept. 23 after a judge ruled that his visa documents will remain private, but in case you were wondering why anyone cared about the Duke of Sussex's immigration status, we'll fill you in.
Some of the revelations in Prince Harry's Netflix documentary and memoir, Spare (remember the story about him doing magic mushrooms at Courteney Cox's house?), caused a right-wing think tank called the Heritage Foundation to question the duke's U.S. visa application.
The organization "claims that Harry may have lied on the forms under the section which asked if he had been a drug user," per the Daily Mail, and sued the U.S. Department of Homeland Security after it would not "disclose a Freedom of Information request for Harry's files."
However, the media outlet reported that U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols ruled in Harry's favor, emphasizing a “reasonable privacy interest” concerning his immigration paperwork and ensuring that these files won’t be made public.
After a five-month review, Judge Nichols acknowledged that while Spare —which sold a whopping 1.4 million copies on its release day—revealed past drug use, this did not diminish his right to privacy regarding immigration information.
"For the reasons discussed, the public does not have a strong interest in disclosure of the duke's immigration records," Nichols's court order read, according to the Daily Mail.
Prince Harry's win comes as he visits NYC this week, with the duke taking in part in engagements with organizations like The Diana Award, African Parks and The HALO Trust.
On Tuesday, he called on social media companies to take responsibility for the ongoing mental health crisis among teenagers, while admitting he had been known to "get into trouble" himself.
"I know a thing or two about that," he quipped.
