Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, along with her mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a “near-catastrophic car chase” with paparazzi photographers in New York City after attending an awards ceremony, according to a spokesperson for the prince. The incident reportedly involved aggressive paparazzi driving recklessly and endangering the lives of the couple and Ragland by pursuing them in half a dozen cars with blacked-out windows for over two hours. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were shaken but otherwise unharmed. New York City cab driver Sukhcharn Singh, who was quoted in The Washington Post, said he drove the group and a security guard for around 10 minutes before returning to the police station from where he had picked them up at the security guard’s request.
Pictures on social media show Harry, Meghan and Ragland sitting in the back of a New York taxi, which their spokesperson said showed “a small glimpse at the defense and decoys required to end the harassment.” The couple had reportedly switched to the taxi to try and shake off the photographers after being pursued in the car they had left the Ziegfeld Ballroom in. The prince has been vocal about his anger towards press intrusion, which he attributes to the death of his mother, Princess Diana, who was killed in 1997 when the car she was riding in crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi in Paris.
Tuesday’s chase could have also been fatal and involved paparazzi driving on the sidewalk, running red lights and taking pictures while behind the wheel, according to the couple’s spokesperson. Such activities pose a significant risk in high-density urban areas like New York City, which is why Mayor Eric Adams said he received a briefing that two NYPD officers could have been injured in the incident. He added that it would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this, and he found it hard to believe that there would have been a two-hour high-speed chase. The Ms. Foundation for Women, the organizers of the awards ceremony where Meghan was honored for her work, had no immediate comment.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have been living in California with their two young children since they stepped down from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to the United States. Harry has been involved in several court cases in London, where he has accused papers of using unlawful methods to target him and his family. While papers have rejected nearly all his allegations, one publisher apologized last week for unlawfully seeking information about him in 2004. He is also seeking to overturn a decision by the British government to take away his specialist police protection when he is in Britain.
Despite their efforts to avoid paparazzi through various tactics, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex continue to be targeted relentlessly by photographers. High-profile individuals like the couple should be able to enjoy their privacy and go about their lives without feeling threatened or pursued. A balance must be struck between the public’s right to know and the safety and wellbeing of public figures and their families. It is time to re-examine press freedoms and find a way for them to coexist with the rights and privacy of private citizens. Otherwise, incidents like the car chase involving the Duke and Duchess of Sussex will continue to occur.
