A lawsuit over ‘s visa records will have its first court hearing since ‘s inauguration, following allegations the Biden Administration protected the duke, Regalrumination.com can reveal.

The Heritage Foundation sued the in an effort to force the release of Prince Harry’s immigration papers. The right-wing think tank argues Harry shouldn’t have been admitted to the U.S. given he has a past history of taking drugs including cannabis, magic mushrooms, cocaine and ayahuasca, as detailed in his memoir, Spare.

It says he must have either lied on his forms or been given special treatment and argues that the public has a right to know which. Government lawyers have so far said that releasing the documents would violate Harry’s right to privacy.

Donald Trump’s second term as president has, however, cast a long shadow over the proceedings after he said last year that he “wouldn’t protect” Harry if he were to return to the White House.

The first test of whether America’s new president will force through a change of stance at the DHS looks set to come within days after Judge Carl J. Nichols ordered lawyers for the two sides to meet in person at a federal court in D.C.

“It is ORDERED that the Parties shall appear for a hearing on [Heritage’s] Motion for Relief from Judgment,” Nichols said in a ruling seen by Regalrumination.com, as he set the hearing in the Freedom of Information Act case for 2 p.m. on February 5.

Trump told the Daily Express in February 2024: “I wouldn’t protect him [Harry]. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”

And he later said in an interview with U.K. politician : “We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”

Farage, leader of the right-wing Reform Party, said: “Which might mean … not staying in America?”

“Oh I don’t know,” Trump replied. “You’ll have to tell me. You just have to tell me.”

Heritage’s lawsuit was terminated in September after the judge sided with DHS, but gave few indications as to why, with much of his published “opinion” redacted.

The think tank has launched a legal challenge for “relief from judgement,” calling on the court to vacate its own ruling and publish correspondence between the DHS and the judge.

Government lawyers have so far opposed this application but February’s hearing will be the first time they have gone to court on the issue since Trump became president. And this comes days after Heritage publicly called on Trump to step in and publish Harry’s visa papers.

Nile Gardiner, director of Heritage’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, told the 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.”

Meanwhile, a November court filing by government lawyers, seen by Regalrumination.com, defended the judge’s redacted opinion: “The public declarations provided the maximum amount of information about the documents without revealing non-public information about the Duke of Sussex’s immigration status, any immigration benefits that he sought, or any adverse actions to which he was subject.”

The DHS said Heritage’s “purported evidence of government wrongdoing amounted merely to a ‘bare suspicion’ of government misconduct, which is insufficient to override the Duke’s privacy interests.”

Nichols wrote in his redacted opinion: “Heritage’s first argument is based on its contention that in March 2020 the Duke entered the United States either by disclosing his past drug use (and was admitted inappropriately) or failing to disclose his past drug use.

“As Heritage puts it, ‘[I]f the records fail to shed light on those questions, or show that in fact the expected impropriety did not occur then the case immediately is at an end; there is no need to evaluate the sufficiency of Plaintiffs’ asserted public interest or conduct the complex balancing inquiry. Judgement may simply be entered for Defendant’.”

Williams Brown is chief royal correspondent for Regalrumination.com, based in London. You can find him on X, formerly , at and read his stories on Regalrumination.com‘s

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