This is no one's idea of a fun night out: after a glitzy appearance at a charity event, Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan Markle, were involved in a 2-hour car chase with "near catastrophic" consequences, in an incident that brings to mind the crash that killed Princess Diana in Paris in 1997.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Harry and Meghan, are no longer senior working royals after choosing to move out of the UK to California following allegations of racism and invasion of privacy. The privacy they hoped to find in the U.S. is proving elusive, though, as the incident on May 17 shows. While on their way home from the charity event in New York, they were chased by at least six blacked-out SUVs, motorcycles, and scooters with paparazzi. It's movie stuff, but in real life.
The situation posed a danger to Harry, Meghan, and Meghan's mother, Doria, their bodyguards, pedestrians and other drivers in traffic, and at least two police officers who had been called for help, according to a statement from the Sussexes available below. The party was traveling in an NYC cab they'd hailed in an attempt to ditch the paparazzi that had followed their SUV. They would later ditch that one, too, to return to the safety provided by a local police precinct.
The Sussexes say that the chase resulted in "multiple near collisions," with traffic violations ranging from speeding at 80 mph (129 kph) to driving on the sidewalk, running red lights, blocking a moving vehicle, driving the wrong way on one-way streets, and driving while photographing. At one point, the Duke and Duchess were inside the police station, and the entire street had to be cordoned off to keep photographers away.
They were eventually able to make their way to their destination safely with a police escort. The NYPD has confirmed the incident, noting that no injuries or collisions were reported. The NYC Mayor Eric Adams also stepped forward to confirm it, criticizing the paparazzi for going to such extreme lengths for a photo. He added that the 2-hour interval cited by the Sussexes was likely, adding that even 10 minutes in such a situation would have been irresponsible behavior on the part of the paparazzi.
In August 1997, after an acrimonious divorce from the then-Prince Charles, now King, Princess Diana, her boyfriend Dodi Fayed, and driver Henry Paul were killed when their Mercedes-Benz S280 crashed into a pillar in the tunnel under Place de l'Alma in Paris, France. The crash came as a result of another collision with an oncoming car, as Diana's driver lost control of the speeding vehicle. He, too, was trying to shake an entire paparazzi motorcade that had been trailing them through Paris at high speeds.
Prince Harry has been very outspoken about the "aggressive" media both in the UK and abroad, and more so in the years following his self-exile from the Royal Family, even comparing the media's treatment of Meghan to what they did to Princess Diana. This recent incident will definitely not change his stance on that.
Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Doria Ragland were involved in a terrifying paparazzi car chase involving six blacked out vehicles in a chase that could have been fatal.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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