Prince Harry & Meghan Markle Say They Were In A 'Near Catastrophic Car Chase' With Paparazzi
Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, claim they were pursued by tabloid photographers during a "near catastrophic" car chase through the streets of New York City, in a story that echoes the fatal crash involving his mom Diana, Princess of Wales.
A spokesperson for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex told Reuters that it happened Tuesday night, after the couple left an awards ceremony with Markle's mom.
"Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. [Doria] Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi," the spokesperson told Reuters on Wednesday.
"This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers."
The NYPD told NBC New York that they have no information about an incident involving the couple, although they "have received lots of calls on it." It's unclear if any collisions or injuries occurred.
Video obtained by TMZ and circulated on social media appears to show part of the incident with a taxi stopped in the street and two police cars following behind with their sirens on. The camera goes right up to the taxi window, and the video seems to show Markle and her mom in the backseat. Additional TMZ photos appear to show Harry in there with them.
In the video, a man gets out of the front seat of the taxi and chases off the camera, then the taxi and the police vehicles drive off.
\u201c\u00daLTIMA HORA | Pr\u00edncipe Harry, Meghan y su madre involucrados en una \u00abpersecuci\u00f3n de autos casi catastr\u00f3fica\u00bb: La cadena TMZ revela im\u00e1genes previo al incidente (Detalles) https://t.co/3g8eiixjsO\u201d— AlbertoRodNews (@AlbertoRodNews) 1684335035
Prince Harry's mother, Diana, died in a car crash in Paris while fleeing paparazzi in 1997.
Harry has been a frequent critic of the U.K.'s tabloid press culture throughout his adult life, and has even taken a few outlets to court for their antics around him and his wife, Markle.
He's explicitly said that he's afraid the press will hound his wife until she dies, much as he says they did to Diana.
"My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn't white," he told Oprah Winfrey in 2021, per PEOPLE. "You want to talk about history repeating itself, they're not going to stop until [Meghan] dies."
Harry made those comments after he and Markle stepped away from their royal duties and ultimately left the United Kingdom to settle in California in an effort to escape media scrutiny.
They've since built a media machine around themselves through such projects as Markle's Archetypes podcast, their Harry & MeghanNetflix special and Spare,Harry's tell-all memoir.
Tuesday night's alleged chase happened after Markle accepted a Woman Of Vision Award from Gloria Steinem.
It was the couple's first public event since Prince Harry made a solo visit to the United Kingdom for the coronation of his father, King Charles III.
