Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle were “chased” on Tuesday evening in New York by “very aggressive paparazzi”, an incident which could have been “catastrophic”, according to a spokesperson for the couple on Wednesday, even if the police played it down.
This “chase” in the middle of town – the outcome of which could have been “fatal” according to a source close to the “Sussexes”, the couple being at odds with the rest of the British royal family – immediately echoes the death of Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, in the accident of her Mercedes in August 1997 in Paris, chased by paparazzi.
In New York on Tuesday evening, the “relentless chase, which lasted nearly two hours, nearly caused collisions with other drivers, pedestrians and two New York police officers”, said a doorman. -speech in an email sent to AFP.
The couple, first in a car with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, before taking a taxi, had just left a party in New York where the Duchess of Sussex had been awarded by a philanthropic and feminist organization. According to AFP journalists covering the gala, the prince and his wife did not walk the red carpet and entered and left the back of the room where the evening was taking place.
“Although a public figure arouses interest, this should never be done at the expense of anyone’s safety”, warned the spokesperson, denouncing the “dissemination of these images […] encouraging a very intrusive practice [dans la vie privée] which is dangerous”.
“Not like in a movie”
When questioned, the New York police replied that they had “provided assistance to the private security team which protects the Duke and Duchess of Sussex”. Certainly, acknowledged a police spokesman, “there were many photographers” on Tuesday evening “making their transport [dans New York] difficult “. But Harry and Meghan “arrived at their destination and there was no collision, no one injured, no arrest or summons” by law enforcement, he said.
Similarly, a taxi driver, Sukhcharn Singh, found by the Washington Post, carried the couple and a security guard for 10 minutes and challenged the term “pursuit”. “I never felt in danger, it wasn’t like a chase in a movie. They were quiet and looked scared, but this is New York, a safe city,” Singh said.
But according to a source close to the couple, on the contrary, the “chase” involved half a dozen vehicles “driven by individuals who drove recklessly and dangerously for the motorcade and everyone around”. “The chase could have been fatal,” said the source.
Harry has long blamed the press and paparazzi for causing the August 31, 1997 car crash in Paris that killed his mother, Lady Di. Moreover, the mayor of New York, Eric Adams, quoted the resounding disappearance of Diana: “I don’t think that many of us don’t remember how her mother died. »
While denouncing to the press the behavior of the paparazzi “a little reckless and irresponsible”, the city councilor, a former police captain, questioned the probability of a “two-hour chase at full speed”. “But even a 10-minute chase is extremely dangerous in New York City,” Adams said.
At odds with the royal family
Harry, 38, and Meghan, 41, left the British Royal Family in early 2020 to move to California due to conflict and tension, including accusations of racism, and pressure from the media. Harry rushed — and alone — to London on May 6 for the coronation of his father Charles III.
The couple are very unpopular in the UK. The tabloids are ruthless and Harry has several legal disputes with them. The “Sussex” are accused of having slammed the door in 2020, then criticized the powerful and secret royal family, as well as having revealed the backstage and the dissensions to the whole world.
In The Substitute, a huge bestseller written by Harry, his brother William, the heir to the throne, is portrayed as angry enough to have thrown his brother to the ground during an argument over Meghan.
Since leaving for the United States, Harry and Meghan have lost their close protection paid for by the British taxpayer. But the couple, who hire the services of an American private security company, are challenging this state of affairs in court in the United Kingdom, arguing that they do not have access to information to ensure their safety when they are in the country. Britain.
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2023-05-17 07:00:00
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