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It’s been an eventful week for the Sussexes: an intruder arrested at their Montecito mansion in California, a glitzy gala do in New York and then a paparazzi car chase after the event.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s spokesperson told reporters that the couple's big night in the city with her mother, Doria Ragland, took a bad turn when they were involved in "a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi”.
The evening was all about Meghan, who was honoured at the Ms Foundation's Women of Vision Awards for her “lifelong advocacy for women and girls”.
But the alleged car chase overshadowed the celebrations as it raised traumatic memories of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in a high-speed crash after being chased by paparazzi in Paris in 1997.
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“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near-collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” Harry and Meghan's spokeperson said in a statement to Page Six.
The couple and Doria were accompanied by a bodyguard and tried to outwit the vehicles in the chase by hopping in a yellow New York taxi cab before later swopping back into their black SUV.
But some New Yorkers have questioned the couple's account of the night’s events.
An NYPD officer said the magnitude of the chase has been exaggerated.
The View host Whoopi Goldberg expressed scepticism about the possibility of a chase happening on the busy streets of New York.
“Others said it wasn’t bad,” she said talking about the topic on the show.
"But I think people in New York know if it was possible to have car chases in New York, we’d all make it to the theatre on time.
“Sometimes I’m in the city, and I hear an ambulance trying to get through, and I think, ‘That person is dead',” she added about the city's notorious traffic.
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The news comes as the prince is fighting a court battle in the UK where he is seeking royal protection from the Metropolitan Police, despite no longer being a working royal or full-time resident of Britain. He claims that his and his wife's life along with those of their children, Archie (4) and Lilibet (1), would be in danger should they visit the UK.
Douglas Murray of the New York Post describes Harry as “a man on a campaign”.
“And his campaign is against the press. As readers of his memoir will know, Harry has an almost obsessive hatred of the free press.”
SOURCES: NYPOST.COM; DAILYMAIL.CO.UK; THEGUARDIAN.COM; PAGESIX.COM;
