British Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle got into a long chase in New York on the evening of May 16, involving many paparazzi. first on this knowledgeable CNN later covered the details in other Western media.
The incident occurred after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Meghan Markle’s mother Doria Ragland’s Women of Vision Awards ceremony held at the Ziegfeld cinema in downtown Manhattan. After Harry and Meghan left the event, the paparazzi followed them.
“Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were embroiled in an almost catastrophic car chase by a group of very aggressive paparazzi. The relentless pursuit, which lasted more than two hours, resulted in multiple accidents involving other drivers, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” said the royal couple’s spokesperson. Why did it happen?” he said.
According to him, Harry and Meghan understand that they will face increased public attention as public figures. However, he emphasized that such an interest should not be at the expense of anyone’s safety.
A law enforcement source told CNN that after Harry and Meghan left the Ziegfeld theater, they were followed by paparazzi in cars, motorcycles and scooters. At the same time, the car of the Duke and Duchess was accompanied by a police cortege. They had to repeatedly avoid colliding with journalists on the way. Paparazzi took to the sidewalks, constantly changing lanes to keep up with the royal couple. According to the police interlocutor, all this led to several accidents, but there were no serious accidents among them, no one was injured.
The Guardian writes that the chase involved at least six cars with tinted windows and could result in death due to paparazzi’s behavior on the roads. Reported traffic violations include driving on a sidewalk, running a red light, reversing on a one-way road, using a phone while driving, driving while taking a photo, and illegally interfering with a moving vehicle.
The chasing participants clashed with the police several times, but left them and continued to follow Harry and Meghan’s car. In the photos taken during the chase, Harry, Meghan and their mother are sitting in the backseat of a taxi in New York.
At the same time, a few hours later, New York police said that the “tail” of the couple was indeed about an hour behind, but moved in the escort of the police. A police source told The New York Post that police had not received “reports of clashes along the 911 line” in connection with the passing of the Dukes of Sussex. Another source said paparazzi passed by two police officers after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle left Ziegfield at around 9:50pm.
“There was only one car. [Погоня] it certainly did not take two hours, ”explained the interlocutor of the broadcast.
Prince Harry has repeatedly stated that his family faces aggression and obsessive harassment by journalists and paparazzi. He is extremely negative about this manifestation of attention, because he believes that those who are guilty of the death of his mother, Princess Diana, are the paparazzi.
Diana died in 1997 in a car crash in the Alma Tunnel in Paris, along with her son Dodi al-Fayed, a producer and Egyptian billionaire. Many media blamed the paparazzi chasing Diana for her death. The French investigation, however, concluded that the accident resulted in Henri Paul, assistant security guard at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, behind the wheel drunk and, after taking antidepressants, lost control and crashed into a tunnel support. high speed.
Despite the results of the investigation, Prince Harry often draws parallels between his mother’s persecution of the paparazzi and the attitude of journalists towards his family. “In my mother’s time, it was physical abuse – cameras in front of your face, chasing you, chasing you. The paparazzi are still after people,” he said in one of the documentaries.
In 2020, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex received an official apology from X17, which illegally used drones to take pictures of their one-year-old son Archie. That same year, Harry and Meghan had to put up a high fence at actor/director Tyler Perry’s Los Angeles home after photographers discovered their location.
In 2020, Harry and Meghan resigned from their royal duties and moved to the United States. At first they stayed at their friends’ homes, but due to excessive media attention, they had to rent accommodation to avoid disturbing acquaintances.
Prince Harry is currently involved in several lawsuits in which he accuses the media of using illegal methods to obtain information about his family. He is also trying to reverse the British government’s decision as he cannot rely on police protection while in the UK.