Prince Harry and Meghan made getaway in NYC taxi after being trailed by paparazzi
NEW YORK — Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, were trailed in their car by photographers as they left a New York City charity event Tuesday night, briefly taking refuge at a police station before being whisked away in a yellow taxicab.
The pursuit and media frenzy evoked memories of the 1997 car chase through Paris that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana — though in this case, police said, no one was hurt.
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The royal couple set off alarms when their spokesperson claimed Wednesday that they had been dangerously pursued by paparazzi in a “near catastrophic car chase” through the streets of Manhattan. That account led New York City Mayor Eric Adams to condemn the paparazzi chasing them as “reckless and irresponsible.”
Later, though, police said the pursuit was relatively short and led to no injuries, collisions or arrests, and warranted no further investigation. Still, it drove home real security concerns surrounding the royal couple and the trauma brought on by the death of Harry’s mother when he was just 12 years old.
The cab driver who drove them from the police station said he instantly recognized his passengers and that paparazzi “were following us the whole time,” though he said wouldn’t call it a chase.
“They had this look on their faces,” the driver, Sukhcharn Singh, said. “All of a sudden paparazzi came out and started taking pictures.”
Police issued a short statement confirming an incident Tuesday night involving photographers and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who were accompanied by Meghan’s mother.
Meanwhile, police in California were called this week about an episode near the couple’s property in Montecito. A man was arrested shortly after 2 a.m. Monday on suspicion of prowling near the property, the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the man actually entered the property. He was released on $2,500 bail after the misdemeanor arrest.
A message seeking comment on the arrest was sent Wednesday evening to a representative for the couple.
In New York on Tuesday night, the couple left Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Ballroom — where Meghan had just accepted the Ms. Foundation’s Woman of Vision Awards with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown — and got into an SUV as crowds of pedestrians and photographers gawked, according to video posted to social media.
Harry and Meghan’s vehicle was then followed by photographers in a scene that their office said “resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.” The couple’s office called the incident “near catastrophic.”
