Prince Harry is at the centre of another court case – this time in the US, where the government is being challenged over its decision to grant him a visa despite his admissions of illegal drug use.

The Duke of Sussex’s reference to taking cocaine, cannabis and magic mushrooms in his memoir Spare prompted a conservative think tank to question why he was allowed into the States in 2020.

The Heritage Foundation is suing the Department for Homeland Security (DHS) to release his immigration files after a Freedom of Information request was rejected.

It will argue the ‘widespread and continuous media coverage’ has brought into question whether Harry was properly vetted by the US Government.

The case hinges on how he answered two questions in the application form – ‘Have you ever been a drug abuser or addict?’ and ‘Have you ever violated, or engaged in a conspiracy to violate, any law relating to controlled substances?’ – and could potentially result in his removal from the country.

It is unclear when the court will make a decision over whether the documents can be released.

In his controversial memoir, the duke said cocaine ‘didn’t do anything for me’, adding: ‘Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.’

Nile Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Centre for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in The Telegraph: ‘Given his significant drug use admissions, normally disqualifying for entry into the US, the American people deserve answers to the serious questions raised by the evidence that Harry himself has given.’

He added: ‘Key questions remain unanswered. Was Prince Harry one hundred percent truthful in his answers when he applied for a US visa? Did American immigration officials look the other way, play favourites, or fail to appropriately respond to any potential false statements by him?

‘While President Biden’s DHS is actively flouting enforcement of immigration law at America’s southern border, are celebrity elites such as Prince Harry receiving special treatment?’

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It comes after Harry became the first royal to give evidence in court for more than a century when he was sworn in as a witness at the High Court in London in his individual case against Mirror Group Newspapers over alleged unlawful information gathering.

He described having ‘experienced hostility from the press since I was born’ and branded journalists the ‘mothership of online trolling’.

The duke the tabloid press for ‘inciting hatred and harassment’ in his private life and told the court saying he ended up ‘playing up to a lot of the headlines’, having been cast as a ‘playboy prince’ and a ‘thicko’ when he was younger.

But Andrew Green KC for MGN accused Harry of operating ‘in the realms of total speculation’ over his belief that information for one Mirror story was obtained through unlawful means.

The case continues on Wednesday.

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