King Charles III might not want to admit it but he has his reasons for reportedly being relieved that President Donald Trump won’t deport Prince Harry, even if it turns out that the self-exiled, California-based royal concealed his past illegal drug use when he obtained a visa to live in the United States.
Harry’s immigration status has been the subject of a legal battle in Washington, D.C., the New York Post reported. The Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, has been seeking to make Harry’s visa records public to find out if he concealed his past illegal drug use. Lying or omitting information is considered sufficient grounds to have a visa revoked.
But Trump told the New York Post last week that he isn’t interested in deporting the Duke of Sussex.
“I don’t want to do that,” the newly inaugurated president said. “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”
Britain’s Prince Harry and Meghan Markle speak during the 2021 Global Citizen Live festival at the Great Lawn, Central Park on September 25, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Angela Weiss / AFP) (Photo by ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images)
Yes, Trump called Harry’s American wife, Meghan Markle, “terrible,” which sounds neither presidential nor diplomatic, considering that he’s insulting the daughter-in-law of the head of state of a major U.S. ally. But Trump enjoys insulting political opponents and adversaries, and he previously called the politically liberal former TV actor “nasty” ahead of his 2019 state visit to the U.K. during his first term as president.
Of course, deporting Harry could have serious diplomatic implications, and it’s safe to guess that neither Trump, Charles nor their respective governments would want to deal with the controversy. But a new report explains why Charles may think Trump did him a favor by not forcing Harry to leave the United States and possibly return to England.
“The fact is that Harry and Meghan are a source of strain and worry for His Majesty,” a royal source told Daily Mail columnist Richard Eden. Harry has been estranged from his father and the rest of his family ever since he and Meghan stepped away from royal life, moved to the United States and publicly criticized the monarchy and dished dirt on members of the royal family, including Charles and his heir Prince William. Over the past year, Charles also has been undergoing treatment for cancer, which has taxed him physically and mentally at times.
“While he is sorry that he does not have a relationship with his grandchildren in America, it is easier for his peace of mind that there’s an ocean between him and Harry,” the royal source told Eden.
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex talks with Prince Charles at the Westminster Abbey Commonwealth day service on March 11, 2019 in London, England. (Photo by Richard Pohle – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Harry and Meghan have a long history of being on the outs with Trump. It began before Meghan began dating Harry. During a 2016 TV interview, the then-“Suits” actor called Trump “divisive” and “misogynistic” as he was making his first run for president.
Trump, in turn, called Meghan “nasty” after The Sun tabloid asked him about her calling him “misogynistic” in the TV interview. He also once called Harry “whipped” by Meghan, saying, “I think poor Harry is being led around by the nose.”
Trump’s description of Meghan as “terrible” might please some people in the royal establishment. She clashed with William and Kate, as Harry himself wrote in his memoir “Spare,” and she was the subject of an internal H.R. investigation into allegations that she bullied members of her staff at Kensington Palace during her time as a senior working royal.
The results of the investigation were never made public, but the allegations have followed Meghan to the United States and to people who say they’ve had a difficult time working for her at Spotify and Netflix, according to multiple reports. In a new royal book, “Yes Ma’am: The Secret Life of Royal Servants,” former palace staffers told author Tom Quinn that Meghan has “a Messiah complex” and was known as the “Duchess of Difficult.”
Harry’s estrangement from his father in part stems from his complaints about how Charles treated Meghan, Eden reported. Charles initially welcomed Meghan into the royal family, walked her down the aisle at her 2018 wedding and gave her the nickname “Tungsten,” to celebrate her resilience and toughness.
But Charles couldn’t have been happy that Meghan suggested that some royal family members were racist in her 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, or when her favorite biographer, Omid Scobie, let it slip in a book that Charles and Kate Middleton were the family members who allegedly discussed the skin color of her son Archie.
According to “Spare,” Harry felt put out when the late Queen Elizabeth was dying in 2022, and Charles told him to leave Meghan in London if he wanted to join other family members at her castle in Balmoral, Scotland, to pay their last respects. “I wasn’t wasn’t having it,” Harry wrote in “Spare.” “Don’t ever speak about my wife that way.”
Since Charles’ cancer diagnosis in early 2024, Harry has expressed the desire to reconcile with his family and to even return to Britain to help carry out some royal duties. But Harry’s offer hasn’t been accepted, and he and his father haven’t made time to see each other during his last couple trips to London.
Royal observers say that there’s little trust between father and son, who has demanded an apology from his family. For his part, Charles may be reluctant to see Harry, out of concern that his son could reveal their conversation in an interview or in a future book.
