Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were involved in an alleged two-hour car chase after leaving the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Awards gala on Wednesday night (May 17) in New York City. While no one was injured or killed in the chase, a spokesperson for the couple called it a ‘near-catastrophic car chase.’
Harry and Meghan were allegedly being chased by ‘a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi’ who were likely trying to zero in on where the couple were staying during their visit to NYC. They were met by a flurry of paparazzi after leaving the gala and followed for nearly two hours while their driver tried to elude them.
According to The Times, Prince Harry likened the car chase to the one that killed his mother, Princess Diana, in 1997. In fact, he told some of his friends that it’s the ‘closest I have ever felt’ to understanding what his mother went through in the moments leading up to her death. The chase left the couple ‘shaken.’
While Prince Harry and Meghan Markle paint a very dark and somber picture with their recount of what happened Wednesday night, many others are questioning the validity of their story. Over the past few days, everyone from paparazzi drivers to witnesses and bodyguards have given their side of the story.
One of the paparazzi drivers went as far as to blame the couple’s driver for ‘making it a catastrophic experience’ and said he was going about 20 mph slower than the Sussexes’ car – according to ITV and Good Morning Britain. The paparazzi driver said he was ‘tense,’ but it was because of the couple’s driver.
According to The New York Post, an eyewitness accused the Duke and Duchess’ security team and bodyguards of ‘mocking’ and ‘provoking’ the paparazzi prior to the chase. Another witness told ET that the couple’s security team was behaving ‘recklessly’ and was even trying to block streets during the chase.
The Duke and Duchess’ story was also questioned by the taxi driver that picked them up at a police station. The driver said the couple looked scared when he picked them up, but said they were never in any amount of danger – though he only drove them for about ten minutes before returning to the station.
While many were quick to question Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s side of the story, several people stuck up for the couple and validated their reaction. One witness claimed that several members of the paparazzi were heckling the couple as they left the gala and some even decided to chase them down.
“The way they chased the car, it just reminds you of all the other scenes you’ve seen in the past with Prince Harry’s mother. It was just really upsetting. It was triggering for me, I can’t even imagine how it must have felt for them,” the witness explained in an interview with the Associated Press on Thursday.
Eric Adams, the current mayor of New York City, called the car chase ‘reckless and irresponsible’ – adding that two of the city’s police officers were nearly injured during the incident. While he didn’t believe the chase lasted two hours, he was concerned for the safety of everyone involved – directly or indirectly.
And while the New York Police Police Department confirmed that several paparazzi drivers complicated the Duke and Duchess’ travel from the event to their friend’s house, they were also quick to note that there were no collisions, injuries, or arrests as a result. As always, there are multiple sides to the story.
