The world is tensely waiting to see if Donald Trump has really secured a second term in the White House – and that includes the Sussexes.
Republicans are already celebrating as the ex-president has won key swing states, but votes in the US election are still being counted. Two people expected to be following the result of today’s presidential election very carefully are Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – with the outcome of the vote potentially proving life-changing for the couple.
While Democratic Kamala Harris has spoken out in support of Meghan in particular in the past, the same cannot be said for her rival Mr Trump. In fact, the Republican candidate has made a series of damning statements about Meghan and Harry during the election campaign and even suggested if he wins the keys to the White House, the Duke of Sussex could be deported from the United States.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have not endorsed a candidate in the US election ( Image: Getty)
Harry has long been berated by Trump since he and Meghan took the dramatic decision to quit as working royals and move to the United States more than four years ago. Back in 2020 at the time of the last US election campaign between Mr Trump and Joe Biden, the Sussexes appeared in a video urging Americans to ‘vote against hate speech’.
While they did not specifically mention anyone by name, the remarks were interpreted as referring to Mr Trump and therefore an endorsement of Mr Biden, with some claiming it was a breach of the Sandringham Summit agreement, which was written up when the couple quit their royal duties in 2020. Later Mr Trump spoke out saying he was “no fan” of Meghan.
Fast forward to recent months, Harry has found himself in the centre of a row over his visa, which allows him to live in California. After admitting to using marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his controversial memoir Spare, a lawsuit from the conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation argued that the US Government should release records about the Duke’s visa US application to show whether his drug use was disclosed.
Trump with Harry’s late grandmother Elizabeth II ( Image: Getty Images)
Before a ruling was made in the case, Mr Trump raged at the Biden administration for maintaining the privacy of Harry’s immigration application in order to “protect Harry.” He told the Express US : “I wouldn’t protect him. He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.”
Days later he was also challenged on this stance on Harry during an interview with Nigel Farage on GB News. M r Farage asked if there would be any “special privileges” for the prince, and the Republican candidate said: “No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action.”
Digging deeper, Mr Farage asked: “Appropriate action? Which might mean…not staying in America?” Mr 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.”
Harry admitted taking drugs in his memoir Spare ( Image: Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Clinton Global Initiative)
Last month, a judge made a ruling in the case saying that Harry’s visa documents should remain private. However, the Heritage Foundation has made another court filing saying it was not granted access to private submissions made to the judge by the Biden administration.
The 13-page motion was filed last Tuesday and says that the case was ‘unique’ and complex but adds there is “ample evidence of agency bad faith” meaning this “severely compromises [Heritage’s] ability to prepare arguments on appeal”.
The lawsuit was originally brought by the Heritage Foundation after a Freedom of Information request for the Duke’s records was rejected by the Department for Homeland Security (DHS). In his bombshell memoir, Harry confessed that cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”, adding: “Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me.” He also recounts an experience with magic mushrooms, saying: “I stared at the bin. It stared back. ‘What-staring? ‘ Then it became… a head. I stepped on the pedal and the head opened its mouth. A huge open grin.”
US visa applications specifically ask the individual about current and past drug use, which can have a detrimental impact on the progress of the application. Prolific drug use can lead to applications being rejected, however, immigration officers use their discretion against a range of factors.
However, there has been a hint that Harry’s visa woes if there’s a Trump presidency won’t result in him being deported. It comes after Mr Trump’s son Eric suggested Harry’s visa would be safe because “no one cares” about him and that his wife Meghan is “pretty unpopular”.
Speaking to MailOnline, Eric said: “Truthfully I don’t give a damn about Prince Harry and I don’t think this country does either. My father loved the Queen and I think the monarchy is an incredibly beautiful thing.” He added: “I don’t give a damn if he did drugs. It means nothing. I can tell you that our father and our entire family has tremendous respect for the monarchy.”
Elsewhere in the interview, he said Harry had appeared to have “gone off the deep end and it’s sad to watch” but praised his brother Prince William and added that his wife Kate has been “such a rock in the next generation of the family”.
