Prince Harry and Meghan in ‘near catastrophic’ paparazzi car chase, spokesperson says

Prince Harry and Meghan in ‘near catastrophic’ paparazzi car chase, spokesperson says

The spokesperson described the photographers as “highly aggressive” and stated the pursuit lasted greater than two hours on Tuesday night time (Wednesday AEST).

The New York Police Department launched a brief assertion, calling the incident a “transport challenge” however there have been “no reported collisions”.

Meghan and Harry
Meghan and Harry had attended the Ms Foundation’s Women in Vision Awards in New York City. (Getty)

“The NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex,” they stated.

“There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging.

“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their vacation spot and there have been no reported collisions, summonses, accidents, or arrests in regard.”

The duke and duchess’ spokesperson said the chase included “a number of close to collisions” with other drivers, pedestrians and two New York Police Department officers.

“While being a public determine comes with a degree of curiosity from the general public, it ought to by no means come at the price of anybody’s security,” the spokesperson said, in a statement.

“Dissemination of those pictures, given the methods wherein they have been obtained, encourages a extremely intrusive observe that’s harmful to all in concerned.” 

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 16: (L-R) Doria Ragland, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex attend the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power at Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 16, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Ms. Foundation for Women)
Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and the duchess’s mother, Doria Ragland, had been at an awards ceremony. (Getty Images Ms. Foundation for)

Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, died in a car crash as she was chased by paparazzi in Paris in 1997.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams told reporters he hadn’t received a full briefing about the incident yet but called it “reckless and irresponsible”, saying “two of our officers may have been injured”.

“You should not be rushing wherever, however it is a densely populated metropolis, and I believe all of us, I do not suppose there’s many people who do not recall how his mum died,” Adams told reporters when asked about the incident at an unrelated briefing.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls Prince Harry incident 'reckless and irresponsible'
New York City Mayor Eric Adams calls Prince Harry incident ‘reckless and irresponsible’ (BBC)

Video taken by bystanders and posted on social media showed Harry and Meghan exiting Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ballroom and getting into an SUV as crowds of pedestrians and photographers gawked.

Another video posted by TMZ showed the couple in a yellow New York City taxicab, stuck in traffic several blocks away from the ballroom, as photographers recorded them through the windows.

The cab was being escorted by NYPD vehicles with flashing lights.

Meghan and Harry had attended the Ms Foundation’s Women in Vision Awards in New York City on Tuesday, the duchess’s first public outing since the coronation of King Charles.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 16: Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex attends the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power at Ziegfeld Ballroom on May 16, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images Ms. Foundation for Women)
Appearing at the Ms Foundation’s Women in Vision Awards in New York City on Tuesday, marked the duchess’s first public outing since the coronation of King Charles. (Getty Images Ms. Foundation for)

Harry flew to England briefly to attend his father’s crowning but Meghan stayed home in California with the couple’s two children with the royal event the same day as son Prince Archie’s fourth birthday.

Former royal protection officer Simon Morgan said two hours was a long time for such an incident to continue without any sort of intervention.

“I believe it is an alarming growth from the safety perspective and positively after we look again in historical past regarding the duke’s mom, and we know how that that tragedy unfolded,” he told Sky News.

“So I believe it may be extraordinarily alarming and distressing for them.

“But I think there’s going to have to be an investigation, maybe from NYPD as to what support mechanisms their security team was able to draw upon.”

Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex arrives at the Royal Courts of Justice on March 28, 2023 in London, England.
Security for Harry and Meghan has been a problem for the reason that British authorities stripped them of safety after they moved to California in 2020 (Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Security for Harry and Meghan has been a problem for the reason that British authorities stripped them of safety after they moved to California in 2020 and it figures in three of his authorized instances in opposition to the federal government and tabloid press.

The chase occurred the identical day a lawyer for Harry argued in a London courtroom that he ought to be capable of problem a authorities resolution denying him the proper to pay police for his personal safety within the UK.

Harry has argued his security was “compromised due to the absence of police protection” throughout a brief go to to the UK in July 2021, when his automobile was chased by photographers as he left a charity occasion.

The couple have stated they funded their very own safety after former US President Donald Trump stated the US authorities would not pay to guard them.

The Duchess of Sussex had accepted the Ms Foundation Women of Vision Award with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown

King Charles III receives the Governor of Tasmania, Barbara Baker, during an audience at Buckingham Palace on May 16, 2023 in London

Governor of Tasmania calls in on King at Buckingham Palace

The gala kicked off the muse’s largest fundraising marketing campaign ever — $US100 million ($150 million) over the following 12 months — that will probably be used to additional the organisation’s equity-centred initiatives and its mission of advancing girls’s collective energy.

With her mom within the viewers, Meghan recounted how Ms Magazine was at all times of their home and the way it affected her world view.

“I am a woman who remains inspired and driven by this organisation,” she stated, trying over at Ms Foundation co-founder Gloria Steinem.

“It allowed me to recognise that part of my greater value and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up to injustice, and to not be afraid of saying what is true and what is just and what is right.”

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Source: www.9news.com.au