Prince Harry could face a battle to stay in the US during President-elect Donald Trump’s term in office. Legal eagles have chirped that the 40 year old Duke of Sussex might face the threat of deportation if his visa paperwork reveals any fibs about past drug use, which he candidly discussed in his bombshell 2023 memoir Spare.
Beverly Hills solicitor Alphonse Provinziano, a lawyer who works on international family law disputes, reckons that if the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank gunning for Harry’s visa records, keeps up the pressure, our prince could be packing his bags. But while Harry might have to ditch his swanky Montecito digs, his American wife Meghan Markle and their kids, Archie and Lilibet, are all US citizens and would stay put.
Provinziano told the Mail Online: “One unlikely loser of the 2024 US presidential election is Prince Harry.”
He added: “Prince Harry’s lawyers will be busy over the next four years, as Trump has made it quite clear that if he returned to office, he would seek to have Harry removed from the country.
“The Biden administration had shielded Harry, and a lawsuit by the Heritage Foundation seeking more information was dismissed, but Trump may have the upper hand if it turns out that Harry was not forthcoming about his past drug use on his visa application, although he’s admitted it in his autobiography and various interviews over the years,” reports the Express.
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This is due to the fact that the US often denies entry to individuals with a history of drug use, including those who have used drugs in the past. If Harry failed to disclose this in his resident visa application, he could be at risk of deportation.
The prince first relocated to the US in 2020 after stepping down as a senior royal less than two years after his 2018 Windsor wedding to Meghan, 43. Since then, the duke has been residing in his £11 million mansion, where he reportedly enjoys cycling, bird watching and beach trips.
Despite not being an American citizen himself, friends of the duke have said he intends to stay in California where his children – particularly Prince Archie – are already in school. A friend of the duke told The Daily Mail: “Harry’s in California. It’s his home and where he expects to live indefinitely – with Meghan. They are very happy in California. They are both focused on the work which they are doing here.”