What Prince Harry's Lawyers Said About Drugs 7 Months Into U.S. Life

Prince Harry gave no indication that he took drugs in a court filing in October 2020, seven months after his arrival in America.

Conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation is pressing immigration officials in Washington D.C. to publish Harry's visa application. It wants to determine whether the prince was candid about his use of cannabis, cocaine, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca.

It is not known for sure whether Harry was even asked about drugs, since it is not known what type of visa he has. However, the duke had an opportunity to tell the world about his use of cannabis, months after his arrival in America, and did not take it.

It comes as U.K. broadsheet The Daily Telegraph reported "a source close to" the Sussexes said Harry had been truthful in his application. The source did not add whether the prince had revealed drug-taking to the authorities.

Prince Harry vs. News Group Newspapers

Prince Harry is suing Rupert Murdoch's media empire over allegations that his phone was hacked by the now-defunct newspaper News of the World.

Among a shopping list of accusations, a court filing from October 2020, seen by Newsweek, discusses a story published in January 2002 by the tabloid.

Filed seven months after his move to California, the document read: "The MPS [Metropolitan Police Service] also disclosed an untitled email from [News of the World journalist Clive] Goodman to [then-editor] Rebekah Wade and Andy Coulson sent at 19:41 on 9 January 2002, which described how they were going to blag Prince Charles into believing that [Prince Harry] was an habitual heavy drinker and user of cocaine and cannabis in order to get an exclusive but softer story on [Prince Harry's] alleged drug use."

"Blagging" is British slang for the use of deception or trickery to obtain something. The use of the words "believing" and "alleged" at the very least leave open the possibility that the allegations were entirely false and that the prince had not taken drugs.

Prince Harry's Drug Revelations in 'Spare'

His book Spare, published in January 2023, suggests that he was smoking cannabis by that point in his life. A passage describing how, shortly after his 17th birthday, he would pass a joint between friends at Eton.

The book reads: "Whenever we found ourselves in possession, we'd commandeer a tiny upstairs bathroom, wherein we'd implement a surprisingly thoughtful, orderly assembly line.

"Smoker straddled the loo beside the window, second boy leaned against the basin, third and fourth boys sat in the empty bath, legs dangling over, waiting their turns," the prince wrote. "You'd take a hit or two, blow the smoke out of the window, then move on to the next station, in rotation, until the spliff was gone."

"I knew it was wrong," Harry added. "My mates knew too. We talked about it often, while stoned, how stupid we were to be wasting an Eton education."

Harry and the Tabloid Sting

Four pages later, Harry describes the News of the World story referenced in the court filing, stating that it was false.

The prince wrote: "It seemed that the editor of Britain's biggest tabloid had recently phoned my father's office to say she'd uncovered 'evidence' of my doing drugs in
various locations, including Club H [at Charles' Highgrove Estate]."

Harry described being asked whether it was true by an aide: "'Lies,' I said. 'All lies.' He went item by item through the editor's evidence. I disputed all of it. 'Wrong, wrong, wrong.' The basic facts, the details, it was all wrong."

The prince's book disputes some of the specifics he says the newspaper alleged, including the locations. Harry wrote that there were never drugs at "Club H" and suggests the News of the World wanted to characterize him wrongly as an addict. The book does seem to suggest, however, that he had taken cannabis by that point, if the chronology is to be considered accurate.

Prince Harry and Cocaine

If Harry had not already done cocaine by the time of the News of the World's story in January 2002, then he did take it in the months that followed, his book suggests.

Just before the Golden Jubilee, which was five months later, Harry was asked by a palace staffer whether he had been doing cocaine. This came after another inquiry by a British newspaper editor. The prince replied: "He's a liar. It's not true."

"Of course," Spare read, "I had been doing cocaine around this time. At someone's country house, during a shooting weekend, I'd been offered a line, and I'd done a few more since.

"It wasn't much fun, and it didn't make me particularly happy, as it seemed to make everyone around me, but it did make me feel different, and that was the main goal."

The filing by Harry's lawyers cannot show whether or not he lied in his visa application, or even whether he was asked about drug use.

However, the wording does suggest that the prince was at the very least not possessed by his current desire to tell the world about his use of drugs when preparing the lawsuit.

Unlike a court filing, however, visa applications do not generally become public, and therefore the two situations are not a direct comparison.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

Do you have a question about King Charles III, William and Kate, Meghan and Harry, or their family that you would like our experienced royal correspondents to answer? Email royals@newsweek.com. We'd love to hear from you.