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Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan were involved in a harrowing “car chase” fueled by paparazzi Tuesday, their spokespeople said.
The couple’s office said the pair and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were followed for more than two hours by half a dozen vehicles after leaving a charity event in New York on Tuesday.
Their team said in a statement to USA TODAY Wednesday that the chase to capture photos of the couple “resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.” The statement called the incident “near catastrophic.”
“While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety,” their office said. “Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”
Julian Phillips, deputy commissioner of public information for the New York Police Department, told USA TODAY in an emailed statement that the NYPD assisted in protecting the duke and duchess along with their private security team.
“There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” Phillips said. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters Wednesday he hadn’t received a full briefing about the incident yet. However, he said it is “reckless and irresponsible” for vehicles to be chasing each other in New York City, especially with its dense population. Adams added that “two of our officers could have been injured.”
The couple was in New York City for the Ms. Foundation for Women’s annual gala, at which Meghan accepted the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Award Tuesday night, with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown. Meghan and Harry entered and exited the event venue through a public entrance. There, paparazzi snapped photos of the duo who were dressed up for the occasion.
The Duchess of Sussex’s acceptance speech closed out the Ms. Foundation for Women’s annual gala, part of the nation’s oldest women’s foundation celebration of its 50th anniversary. Meghan encouraged women to find inspiration to fight for equity. “It’s never too late to start,” Meghan said at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Manhattan. “You can be the visionary of your own life. … There is still so much work to be done.”
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Prince Harry, Meghan’s security has been an ongoing issue
Security for Harry and Meghan has been an issue since the British government stripped them of protection when they stepped back as senior royals and moved to California in 2020, and it figures in three of his legal cases against the British government and tabloid press.
The chase occurred the same day a lawyer for Harry argued in a London court that he should be able to challenge a government decision denying him the right to pay police for his own security in the U.K.
Harry has argued his safety was “compromised due to the absence of police protection” during a short visit to the U.K. in July 2021, when his car was chased by photographers as he left a charity event.
The couple have said they funded their own security after then-President Donald Trump said the U.S. government wouldn’t pay to protect them.
Princess Diana died in a car accident following a paparazzi chase in 1997
Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, died in a car accident in 1997 after being chased by paparazzi in France.
In the early hours of Aug. 31, 1997, Princess Diana and her beau Dodi Fayed attempted to evade relentless paparazzi by hopping in the backseat of a black Mercedes S280, driven by Ritz security employee Henri Paul. The speeding car, in a misguided attempt to outrun photogs, collided with a concrete pillar in the Pont de l’Alma tunnel. Fayed and Paul died on the scene. Diana was later pronounced dead at the hospital.
A timeline:What happened the day Princess Diana died
Prince Harry denounced British media’s ‘malicious’ coverage of his wife
Prince Harry has previously denounced the British media’s “malicious” and “relentless” coverage of his wife, sharing an emotional open letter in 2019. “Unfortunately, my wife has become one of the latest victims of a British tabloid press that wages campaigns against individuals with no thought to the consequences – a ruthless campaign that has escalated over the past year, throughout her pregnancy and while raising our newborn son,” he wrote in the 2019 statement.
“My deepest fear is history repeating itself,” he wrote. “I’ve seen what happens when someone I love is commoditised to the point that they are no longer treated or seen as a real person. I lost my mother and now I watch my wife falling victim to the same powerful forces.”
Prince Harry feared for Meghan:Harry compares ‘malicious’ media coverage of Duchess Meghan to late Princess Diana
Contributing: The Associated Press
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