The Duke of Sussex could spend the next four years in legal battles during Donald Trump’s upcoming presidency.
Prince Harry could spend the next four years of President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency fighting to remain in the US, experts have revealed.
According to various legal experts, it is likely the 40-year-old Duke of Sussex could face deportation if the prince’s visa documents show that he lied about his previous drug use, which he explored in great detail in his 2023 memoir Spare.
Now Beverly Hills attorney Alphonse Provinziano, a leading lawyer who has spent years working on international family law disputes, said that if the Heritage Foundation think tank – who have been fighting to get the prince’s application records made public – continue to campaign for this then the duke may risk having to leave the country.
If he is deported and forced to leave life at his Montecito mansion behind, the same will not be said for his American wife Meghan Markle and their two children Prince Archie, five, and Princess Lilibet, three, who are all citizens of the United States.
Mr Provinziano told Mail Online: “One unlikely loser of the 2024 US presidential election is Prince Harry.
“Prince Harry’s lawyers will be busy over the next four years, as Trump has made it quite clear that if he returned to office, he would seek to have Harry removed from the country.
“The Biden administration had shielded Harry, and a lawsuit by the Heritage Foundation seeking more information was dismissed, but Trump may have the upper hand if it turns out that Harry was not forthcoming about his past drug use on his visa application, although he’s admitted it in his autobiography and various interviews over the years.”
This is because America often refuses entry into the country to drug users, including those who have used in the past, meaning that if Harry refused to reveal this in his application for a resident visa then he could be eligible for deportation.
The prince first moved across the pond in 2020 after quitting life as a senior royal less than two years after his 2018 Windsor wedding to Meghan, 43.
Meghan Markle is a US citizen and therefore does not need a visa to live in the country
Since then, the duke has been living in his £11 million mansion, where he is said to enjoy bike rides, bird watching and trips down to the beach.
Although Harry is not an American citizen himself, friends of the duke have said he wants to stay in California where his children – especially Prince Archie – are already in education.
A friend of the duke told The Daily Mail: “Harry’s in California. It’s his home and where he expects to live indefinitely – with Meghan. They are very happy in California. They are both focused on the work which they are doing here.”