A US court has ruled files relating to the Duke of Sussex’s US visa application must be made public.

Judge Carl Nichols ordered the release of the documents as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information request brought by conservative US think tank the Heritage Foundation.

Prince Harry’s reference to taking cocaine, marijuana and psychedelic mushrooms in his book Spare prompted the Washington DC organisation to ask why he was allowed into the US in 2020.

Harry – the younger son of the King – and his wife Meghan Markle famously departing the royal family that year. The lived in Canada at first before eventually settling in the exclusive California neighbourhood of Montecito.

They still live there, with their British-born son Archie, who is five, and US-born daughter Lilibet, three.

Nichols ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to release the redacted versions of the documents no later than Tuesday, according to court filings dated March 15.

It comes after Nichols ruled in  September 2024 that the public had no a strong interest in the disclosure of Harry’s immigration records, but the Heritage Foundation wanted the judgment to be changed.

Despite previously refusing the FOI request, lawyers for the Department of Homeland Security in February agreed to release redacted versions of the forms.

“Specifically, defendant would propose redacting all information in these items that would reveal information that the court has determined defendant can withhold,” department lawyer John Bardo wrote in a court filing.

The Heritage Foundation alleged the duke may have concealed past illegal drug use that should have disqualified him from getting a US visa.

It previously argued answers on Harry’s prior drug use in his visa application should have been disclosed as they could raise questions over the US government’s integrity.

In February, President Donald Trump ruled out deporting Harry from the US, telling The New York Post: “I’ll leave him alone.”

“He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, has previously been a vocal critic of former reality star Trump and called him “divisive” and a “misogynist”.

Meghan said she was backing his rival Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election and suggested she would leave the US if he won.

In his controversial memoir, Harry said cocaine “didn’t do anything for me”.

“Marijuana is different, that actually really did help me,” he wrote.

Trump said in a GB News interview with Nigel Farage in March last year that Harry should not receive preferential treatment if he was found to have lied on his application.

“No. We’ll have to see if they know something about the drugs, and if he lied they’ll have to take appropriate action,” Trump said.

-with AAP