A lawsuit fighting to make Prince Harry’s private US visa records public has been reopened.
Harry’s reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book Spare prompted a right wing US think tank to question why he was allowed to move to the country in 2020.
The Heritage Foundation called for the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) to make his papers public to see whether the duke disclosed his past drug use. It also questioned whether Harry was given special treatment by the Biden administration.
It initially brought the lawsuit to the DHS after a Freedom of Information Act request was rejected, with the think tank claiming it was of “immense public interest”.
In September last year, a judge ruled that Harry’s application would remain private, as he had a “legitimate privacy interest in his immigration status”.
But the case now appears to have been reopened, after lawyers from both sides were ordered by Judge Carl J. Nichols to meet in person at a federal court in Washington D.C..
"It is ORDERED that the Parties shall appear for a hearing on [Heritage's] Motion for Relief from Judgment," A ruling seen by Newsweek read.
The news outlet added he had set the hearing for 2 pm on February 5.
It will be the first hearing of the case under a Trump administration. The Republican previously weighed in on Prince Harry’s visa application at a political conference in February, in which he claimed the Biden administration had been “too gracious” to Harry since his 2020 move to California with Meghan.
Mr Trump told the Express: “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”
In recent days, Nile Gardiner, director of Heritage's Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, called on Trump to step in and publish Harry’s papers.
He New York Post: "I'll be urging the president to release Prince Harry's immigration records and the president does have that legal authority to do that."
The lawsuit was put forward after Harry admitted to having recreationally used marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his bestselling memoir Spare.
In a passage of the 2023 book, he opened up about his experiences of trying cocaine as a "deeply unhappy 17-year-old boy".
He wrote: "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. Feel. Different."
