Questions about whether Prince Harry was truthful on his American visa application could soon be answered after a federal judge ordered that the records be released by Tuesday.

A district court judge at Washington, Carl Nichols, ordered the Department of Homeland Security to release redacted versions of the Duke of Sussex’s visa records by Tuesday, according to court documents filed on March 15. 

The order comes after the conservative think tank, the Heritage Foundation, has been fighting for months to get the documents released through a Freedom of Information Request. 

Heritage has argued there is “intense public interest” in the documents being released as it could show whether he honestly answered questions about his past use of cocaine, marijuana, and psychedelic mushrooms.

Harry and his American wife Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, moved to California in June 2020 after “stepping back” from their royal duties so they could make money without the strictures of the British Royal Family. The loss of “working royal” status, which brings with it formal diplomatic privileges, should have cost Prince Harry any special treatment, Heritage argues. Diplomatic visas to America are only for those performing “official activities on behalf of their national government.” The Biden Administration’s strong resistance to releasing the visa records suggests there may be irregularities.  

Heritage’s legal filings center on Prince Harry’s acknowledged drug use. In his 2023 memoir, “Spare,” he recounted a time when he “smoked an entire shopping bag of weed.”

Heritage argues that the details of Harry’s drug use could shed light on whether Homeland Security followed the immigration law, as the details chronicled in the book could have disqualified him from obtaining a visa. Alternatively, the think tank says it would expose any potential special treatment Harry received from the Biden administration.

Despite his estrangement from the Palace, Harry’s finances, as one of the king’s two children, remain intertwined with the secret finances and assets of his family – long the source of speculation and resentment in Britain – and, royal observers say, the British government would not be happy were those finances exposed during a traditional visa process. 

A spokesperson for the Heritage Foundation did not respond to the Sun’s request for comment by the time of publication. 

An assistant United States attorney, John Bardo, suggested in July that it is possible Harry did not lie about drug use on his visa application, saying, “Just saying something in a book doesn’t make it true.”

In February, lawyers for Homeland Security agreed to release redacted versions of visa documents. Mr. Bardo said in a filing at the time, “Specifically, Defendant would propose redacting all information in these items that would reveal information that the Court has determined Defendant can withhold.”

An attorney for Heritage, Samuel Dewey, suggested at the time that Harry could be deported if it turns out he lied on his visa application. “If he lied, that gets you deported,” Mr. Dewey told reporters in February. “People are routinely deported for lying on immigration forms.”

President Trump has previously given a vague answer to the question of deporting the duke. In a March 2024 interview with Britain’s GB News, Mr. Trump said that if Harry lied on the form, “We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied, they’ll have to take appropriate action.”

When asked what an “appropriate action” is, he said, “Oh, I don’t know. You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me. You would have thought they would have known this a long time ago.”

In February, however, he seemed to rule out the possibility of deportation, telling the New York Post, “I don’t want to do that.”

“I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible,” Mr. Trump said.