Prince Harry is in trouble. Donald Trump is gunning for him over his US immigration status. “I wouldn’t protect him,” Trump announced in an interview last weekend. “He betrayed the Queen. That’s unforgivable. He would be on his own if it was down to me.” A Washington court is delving into whether Harry lied about past drug-taking on his US visa application, after he confessed to taking marijuana, cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms in his memoir, Spare. If Harry didn’t tell the truth, he could be at risk of deportation.
There is a whiff of revenge behind this royal family saga. In an alternative universe, Trump could have been Harry’s stepfather. Hilariously, he fancied his chances with Princess Diana in the Nineties. “Trump clearly saw Diana as the ultimate trophy wife,” the news presenter Selina Scott recalled. “As the roses and orchids piled up at her apartment… it had begun to feel as if Trump was stalking her.” Diana felt cornered. “What am I going to do?” she asked Scott. “He gives me the creeps.”
No doubt Trump also makes Harry and Meghan shudder. On the upside, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are in excellent company on his hit list. The Sussexes are a brand, like the Trumps. He doesn’t like that. Trump, the ultimate narcissist, hates people who are as famous as he is and loves knocking them down. He has never forgiven Meghan for saying in 2016, shortly before meeting Harry, “I might just stay in Canada,” (where she was filming Suits) if he became president. And he flatters himself that he had a special bond with the late Queen Elizabeth because he adores all the pomp and pageantry of the crown.
Conversely, Trump feels shunned by Hollywood liberals and scorns them in return. He has described Meryl Streep as “overrated” and claimed Robert de Niro was “a very low IQ individual”, two favourite insults. During this month’s Super Bowl mania, he reportedly told friends he was “more popular” than Taylor Swift and had “more committed” fans. The late-night television host Jimmy Fallon had a good laugh at that one, explaining that Trump did have “more fans who have been committed”.
Harry is viewed favourably by 42 per cent of Americans, yet things are getting dangerous for him
But there is method in Trump’s madness. Hating on Harry is popular with his base. The Sussexes have become heavily entangled in US culture wars after an initial warm welcome. They have come to represent snooty liberal Hollywood elites, living in their gated Californian communities and taking off in private jets while lecturing everybody else about being kind to the planet. Meghan in particular attracts brickbats and the suspicion that she is angling for a future in politics, like her role models Barack and Michelle Obama. If they thought America was going to be a safe haven, they made a big mistake.
A Newsweek poll in the US this week found Meghan was liked by 31 per cent of respondents and disliked by 30 per cent. Race, gender and accusations of “wokeness” have all played a part in sinking her reputation. Harry was more popular, with 42 per cent viewing him favourably and 16 per cent negatively. Yet things are getting dangerous for him.
For Trump, having a go at Harry is a way of pummelling Joe Biden for being weak on immigration. Both Trump and Biden are heading to the US southern border tomorrow to trade insults over policy after Congress scuppered a bipartisan deal. Behind the latest controversy over Harry is evidence of the growing influence on Trump of the Heritage Foundation, a Right-wing think tank which is plotting his strategy and vying to select his staff for a second term in office.
The key tormentor of Harry and Meghan is Nile Gardiner, a former young aide to Mrs Thatcher in her declining years, who went on to become director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the Heritage Foundation. He can’t abide Meghan and has been clamouring for the release of Harry’s US visa application. “Trump takes a dim view of Harry and the enforcement of immigration law is a top priority,” Gardiner told me mischievously.
In March the Heritage Foundation lobbed a hand grenade at Harry with a freedom of information request for the Department of Homeland Security to produce his immigration paperwork. After the Biden administration refused on “privacy” grounds, it went to court to force the DHS to go public. “If Prince Harry lied in his visa application, that’s a criminal offence. It’s a very serious matter,” Gardiner said. “This is one of the most high-profile immigration cases in US history.”
We don’t know if Harry lied or obtained a special waiver, but the case is getting messy. Gardiner was in court last Friday to survey his handiwork. For him, the question is: “Does the US government actually enforce immigration law or are celebrities given special treatment over ordinary people?”
Harry and Meghan are increasingly soft targets. For a start, many viewers of Oprah and their Netflix series, feel the pair have forfeited their right to privacy. Spare was brilliantly lampooned as “Waaah” by the comedy show South Park in an episode spoofing the couple’s “worldwide privacy tour”. But it also looks as though the Biden administration has something to hide. This week a US district attorney told the court Harry’s musings in his memoir did not count as “sworn testimony or proof” of drug use because he may have been exaggerating to boost sales of his book.
I doubt this rather desperate excuse will wash. It’s possible the judge will ask to see Harry’s papers himself in private to determine whether he lied before delivering his verdict. Whatever happens, the point has been made. Trump wants Harry to know his future status in the US may depend on his grace and favour. This is how he likes to lord it over his critics and “own the libs”.
We don’t know if Harry lied or obtained a special waiver, but the case is getting messy
Sally Bedell Smith, the US biographer of Queen Elizabeth and the King, said, “I don’t think it’s any business of Trump’s. He’s just sounding off and being a bully.” But she added, Harry and Meghan haven’t done themselves any favours. “Harry did something very offensive to his grandmother, his father, his brother and his sister-in-law.”
Bedell Smith also cited another tipping point in their popularity. “When Spotify calls you a pair of ‘grifters’, that’s a moment,” she said, referring to the biting remarks by Bill Simmons, head of its podcast innovation. Spotify cancelled a $20 million investment in the royal couple after Meghan’s Archetypes series flopped.
Trump is an accomplished grifter himself (as his latest wheeze, hawking garish, gold, Trump-branded sneakers for $399 a pair, attests). But it’s never good to have him as an enemy. Meghan’s popularity looks increasingly dicey, while Harry may be wary of applying for US citizenship, despite telling Good Morning America in an interview in February that the thought had “crossed” his mind.
Harry is unlikely to be deported, despite Trump’s bluster, especially as Prince William does not appear to want him home. It would cause an almighty diplomatic row. There are precedents, however, for making life unpleasant. The Nixon administration harassed John Lennon for years in the Seventies, ostensibly over his drug record but in reality because of his opposition to the Vietnam war. Ultimately, Harry will have to decide for himself whether he wants to tough it out in America or rejoin the royal family.
Sarah Baxter is director of the Marie Colvin Center for International Reporting
