Prince Harry, Meghan Markle were in 'near-catastrophic' paparazzi car chase: spokesperson
New York City cab driver tells CBC News royal couple 'was nervous,' but said he's used to traffic 'chaos'
Prince Harry, his wife, Meghan, and her mother were involved in a "near-catastrophic car chase" involving paparazzi photographers after they attended an awards ceremony in New York, a spokesperson for the prince said on Wednesday.
The incident involved "a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi" in half a dozen cars with blacked-out windows driving dangerously and putting the lives of the couple and Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, in danger.
"Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were involved in a near-catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers," the spokesperson said in a statement, which noted that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were shaken by the incident but otherwise unharmed.
The New York Police Department, which said it had assisted the private security team protecting the couple, made the incident sound less serious.
"There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging," Julian Phillips, the NYPD's chief spokesperson, said in a statement. "The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests in regard."
Couple 'pretty nervous,' says taxi driver
Taxi driver Sunny Singh told CBC News's Andrew Nichols that he was flagged down on the street during his shift and suddenly Harry and Meghan were getting into his cab.
"They seemed pretty nervous," he said. "As we went, like, a block away, all of a sudden, paparazzi came out of nowhere and started taking pictures."
Singh said he drove the group around for about 10 minutes before returning to the police station from where he'd picked them up, at the request of a security guard.
"As we were circling back, there were two cars just following us. I don't want to say chase — following us," Singh said. "You know, their experience can be different than mine because I drive in New York traffic, right? New York is known for chaos, right? So their experience can be different than mine."
Singh said the photographers kept their distance while he was driving.
"They weren't right on top of us or trying to come to the side and stuff like that."
Pictures that have since appeared on social media show Harry, Meghan and her mother sitting in the back of a New York City taxi, which their spokesperson said showed "a small glimpse at the defence and decoys required to end the harassment."
Media reported the couple had switched to the taxi to try to shake the photographers after they were pursued in the car they'd taken from the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
Paparazzi drove on sidewalk, spokesperson says
The prince has long spoken out about his anger about press intrusion, which he blames for the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in 1997 when the car she was riding in crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi in Paris.
The couple's spokesperson said the chase that took place after they left the Ziegfeld Ballroom in midtown Manhattan on Tuesday could also have been fatal and involved paparazzi driving on the sidewalk, running red lights and driving while taking pictures.
Those involved in the chase were confronted by police officers multiple times, according to the spokesperson.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he had received a briefing that two NYPD officers could have been injured in the incident.
"I don't think there's many of us who don't recall how, how his mom died," Adams told reporters. "And it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this and something to have happened to them as well."
He said he would be given an in-depth briefing later, but that he found it hard to believe there would have been a two-hour high-speed chase.
Prince has accused tabloids of targetting family
"If it's 10 minutes, a 10-minute chase is extremely dangerous in New York City," Adams said.
The Ms. Foundation for Women, the organizers of the awards ceremony where Meghan was honoured for her work, said it was horrified by the episode.
"Everyone, especially the media, must do better," the statement said.
Buckingham Palace had no comment.
The couple, who live in California with their two young children, had been staying at a private residence but had decided against returning there as they did not wish to compromise that individual's safety, according to their spokesperson.
In his memoir Spare, the couple's Netflix documentary series and TV interviews, Prince Harry has railed against British tabloids invading his and his family's privacy, and it was one of the main reasons that he and Meghan gave for stepping down from their royal roles in 2020 and moving to the United States.
The prince is currently involved in numerous court cases in London where he has accused papers of using unlawful methods to target him and his family. While papers reject nearly all his allegations, one publisher last week apologized for unlawfully seeking information about him in 2004.
He is also seeking to overturn a decision by the British government to take away his specialist police protection when he is in Britain.
