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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were followed by paparazzi in a “near catastrophic” car chase Tuesday night in New York City, according to a statement from the couple’s spokesperson.
“Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland [Markle’s mother] were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi,” the spokesperson said. “The relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.”
The incident supposedly occurred as Harry and Meghan were leaving the Ms. Foundation for Women gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown. Meghan received the organization’s “Women of Vision” award for her work as a “feminist, champion of human rights and gender equity and global role model.”
“You can be the visionary of your own life. You can charter a path in which what you repeat in your daily acts of service, in kindness, in advocacy, in grace, and in fairness — that those become the very things that are recognized by the next wave of women,” Markle said in her acceptance speech.
Harry and Meghan were all smiles as they left the event and got into their black SUV — but then, according to reports, they were swarmed by a gang of paparazzi in cars and on bikes and scooters. At some point, the couple and Markle’s mother exited the SUV and got into the back of a taxi cab to attempt to outrun the paps. A short video from TMZ shows two police cars briefly following the taxi before turning right down a different street.
A statement from the NYPD confirmed that there were “numerous photographers” following Harry and Meghan, which made their drive back to their hotel “challenging”, but seemed to downplay the idea that the incident was “near catastrophic”.
“On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” a statement provided to The Spectator read. “There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests in regard.”
In a statement to Entertainment Tonight, the photo agency Backgrid, who were retaining the services of freelance paparazzi, said, “according to the photographers present, there were no near-collisions or near-crashes during this incident” and that “the photographers have reported feeling that the couple was not in immediate danger at any point.”
Further rebuffing Harry and Meghan’s description of the event as a “chase” is Sukhcharn Singh, the NYC taxi driver who shuttled the former royals around Manhattan.
“I don’t think I would call it a chase. I never felt like I was in danger. It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie. They were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York — it’s safe,” Singh told the Washington Post.
The characterization of the alleged chaotic car chase of course mirrors the fatal crash involving Harry’s mother, Princess Diana. Princess Diana and her lover Dodi Fayed were killed in Paris in 1997 when their driver, who was heavily intoxicated, lost control of their car while evading paparazzi at a high rate of speed.
Observers quickly questioned the narrative surrounding Harry and Meghan’s car chase. Independent journalist and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly rejected the notion that New York City traffic would have allowed a chase like the one described by Harry and Meghan’s spokesperson.
“I lived in Manhattan for 17 yrs & it is not possible to have a 2hr ‘car chase’ there,” Kelly wrote. “Too many street lights/stop signs, too much foot/car traffic & hundreds of places you could safely pull over to protect yourself.”
“There’s old ladies who walk faster than traffic moves in Manhattan,” columnist David Marcus added.
The New York Post, meanwhile, branded the couple the “Duke (and Duchess) of Hazard.”
Senior law enforcement sources told NBC New York that although Meghan and Harry were being “followed,” it was not a “chase.” Other sources told Sky News that the scene was “a bit chaotic” but not “near catastrophic”, and added that the incident lasted so long because Meghan and Harry did not want the photographers to follow them back to where they were staying.
“Harry and Meghan didn’t want paparazzi to know where they were going so they were driven across 57th Street and other streets for about an hour and fifteen minutes. One NYPD vehicle was escorting their vehicle,” Sky News reported. “The Sussexes were driven to the 19th precinct and stayed there around fifteen minutes. Police helped get the pair get off the block and they got into a different car. They got to their residence without being followed.”
Mayor Eric Adams condemned the scene during an unrelated press conference Wednesday morning, stating that “public safety” is more important than paparazzi getting the “right shot” of the Sussexes.
Cockburn is thankful that the notoriously private couple were not injured in the incident, particularly considering the paps were said to have driven on the sidewalk, ran red lights and traveled the wrong way down one-way streets, which is a radical departure from normal NYC traffic.
