A royal risk. Long before Donald Trump secured the 2024 presidential election, he was outspoken about Prince Harry's relocation to the US. At 78, Trump has publicly stated his intention to consider deporting Harry, 40, due to the controversy surrounding the Duke of Sussex's US visa. Harry is currently embroiled in a legal dispute concerning his immigration status. He confessed to using illegal drugs (cocaine, cannabis, and psychedelic mushrooms) in his memoir 'Spare,' which could jeopardize his visa application.
The father of two, along with his wife Meghan Markle, has resided in California since stepping down from their royal duties in the UK in 2020. Meghan, 43, holds US citizenship, while Harry has been striving to obtain the same. The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has sought Harry's visa records, contending that the second son of King Charles III and the late Princess Diana could not have legally entered the US due to his drug use.
In 'Spare,' Harry candidly wrote that cocaine 'didn't do anything for me,' but 'Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.' A judge has since decreed that Harry's visa application must remain confidential, complicating Trump's efforts to deport the duke. Trump first threatened to expel Harry from the country in February during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Oxon Hill, Maryland.
'I wouldn't protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That's unforgivable. He would be on his own,' the 45th president declared. Trump has always held the late monarch in high regard, describing her as an 'incredible woman' in 2018. 'If you think of it, for so many years she has represented her country, she has really never made a mistake. You don't see, like, anything embarrassing,' he told UK's The Sun before their meeting.
Trump has also criticized Joe Biden's administration for being 'too gracious' to the Sussexes since Harry and Meghan relocated to America. In March, Trump told GB News presenter Nigel Farage that Harry should not be afforded 'special privileges' if it is found that he lied on his visa application. 'We'll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied, they'll have to take appropriate action,' the Republican stated. When pressed on whether 'appropriate action' might entail deportation, Trump responded: '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.'
Trump's son, Eric Trump, added his voice to the controversy in August, expressing his willingness to see the Sussexes sent out of America. 'You can have them back over here, but I'm not sure if you want them anymore,' Eric, 40, remarked. 'We might not want them anymore, it feels like they're on an island of their own.' Last month, Eric told the Daily Mail that the US doesn't 'give a damn' about Harry and Meghan. However, he claimed his father wouldn't deport Harry due to visa discrepancies.
'I don't give a damn if he did drugs. It means nothing,' he explained. 'I can tell you that our father and our entire family has tremendous respect for the monarchy.' Trump has also had a contentious relationship with the former 'Suits' actress. In May 2023, he stated that Meghan was 'very disrespectful' to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who passed away in November 2022 at the age of 96.
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