Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were involved in a ‘near catastrophic’ car chase on Tuesday, followed around New York City for more than two hours after attending their first public appearance since the King’s coronation, an awards ceremony at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.
According to Chris Sanchez, a member of the couple’s security team, a dozen vehicles pursued the couple and put the public in jeopardy ‘at several points’. ‘It could have been fatal,’ he said. ‘They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine and started taking pictures until we were able to get out. [I] was concerned about [Prince Harry and his wife] but more about the public because they [the paparazzi] were being so erratic. People were on sidewalks and crossing streets and the [paparazzi] were crossing red lights. We did everything by the letter of law.’
Meghan and Harry were staying at a friend’s house in New York City and so were reportedly forced to drive around New York so as not to compromise the security of their friend’s home. In an effort to lose the paparazzi, they stopped at the New York City Police Department’s 19th precinct, where they got into a taxi for 10 minutes before being returned to the station.
The NYPD assisted the couple’s transport, and New York's mayor Eric Adams has confirmed that two officers were endangered during the case, although the police also claimed there were no injuries, collisions or arrests
‘It’s clear that the paparazzi want to get the right shot, but public safety must always be at the forefront,’ Adams said in a press conference. ‘The briefing I received, two of our officers could’ve been injured. New York City is different from a small town, you shouldn’t be speeding anywhere but this is a densely populated city, and I don’t think there’s many of us who don’t recall how his mom died. It would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this or something to have happened to them.’
But as with everything Meghan and Harry, people have begun to diminish their experience – questioning whether the ‘chase’ as a chase at all. Social media commenters are using videos of the couple stuck in the taxi as some kind of ‘proof’ that it wasn’t a high-speed chase (which, we’ll be clear, no one from their team ever used the term ‘high speed’), as though one 30 second video can sum up the two-hour long incident. Some accuse Meghan and Harry of staging the taxi journey as a photo opportunity, while others point to the fact that no official injuries or arrests were reported.
Now, 'Meghan and Harry car chase video' is a breakout search term on the pair, as is 'Meghan and Harry car chase photos' and 'Meghan and Harry accident'.
In addition, the taxi driver involved in driving Meghan and Harry was asked for comment by the New York Post, who said he never felt in danger. ‘I don’t think I would call it a chase,’ Sukhcharn Singh told the Post. ‘I never felt like I was in danger. It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie. They were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York—it’s safe.’
Backgrid USA, one of the photo agencies accused of pursuing Meghan and Harry last night, have also released their own statement denying that their ‘freelance photographers’ put the couple in danger.
‘We want to clarify that we have received photos and videos of last night’s events from four freelance photographers, three of whom were in cars and one of whom was riding a bicycle,’ the company told Entertainment Tonight. ‘According to the photographers present, there were no near-collisions or near-crashes during this incident. The photographers have reported feeling that the couple was not in immediate danger at any point… At Backgrid USA Inc., we do not condone any form of harassment or illegal activity. We are taking Prince Harry's allegations seriously and will be conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.’
Both Backgrid and Singh's statements are being used as some kind of ‘exposé’ of Meghan and Harry’s version of events. But, of course so much of what is being discussed is subjective - the interpretation of the event from someone who drives a taxi around a busy city like New York on a regular basis may well differ from someone with the life experience of Prince Harry, who not only lost his mother in a similar incident but has spent the last five years vocalising his fears the same thing will happen to his wife. What may be described by one person as a 'challenging' journey (the words of the NYPD statement on the incident) could feel like something far more existential and threatening to the person sat in the back of the car, being pursued.
The public reaction online begs the question, what would it actually take for Meghan and Harry to be believed? Must they be seriously harmed before people take their fears at face value? Whether or not the car chase reached a certain speed, surely, we can all accept that being followed by numerous vehicles, all with flashing cameras, for two hours in a city as chaotic as New York would be traumatic for someone like Harry.
‘I have never experienced their vulnerability as much as I did last night,’ Ashley Hansen, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex's spokesperson said in a statement. ‘They were incredibly scared and shaken up.’
Regardless of how the British public now feel about Meghan and Harry, it seems ludicrous that one can’t empathise with a situation like this and understand the couple's very real fear of history repeating itself. Is that really what we're waiting for?