Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, And Her Mother Were Reportedly Involved In A “Nearly Catastrophic” Two-Hour Car Chase With The Paparazzi In NYC

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and her mom Doria Ragland were all in NYC last night for the Ms. Foundation 2023 Women of Vision Awards, where Meghan was honored by Gloria Steinem. But after they left the awards, which were held at the Ziegfeld Theater in midtown Manhattan, whatever champagne buzz they had left was probably knocked out of them when they say they got into a scary car chase with the paps. Apparently, the streets of Manhattan turned into a Vin Diesel-less reboot of Fast & Furious when the paps began chasing the SUV that Harry, Meghan, and Doria were in. Harry and Meghan’s rep says that the chase lasted over two hours and put other drivers and pedestrians in danger. Of course, this is taking everyone back to 1997 when Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, her partner Dodi Al Fayed, and driver, Henri Paul, were all killed in a car crash during a chase with the paparazzi.

Harry and Meghan’s rep gave this statement about the chase:

“Last night, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms. Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi. This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.

While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety.

Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all in involved.”

Page Six has a few more details on this. Their source says that after Harry, Meghan, and Doria left the awards show at around 10:00 last night, about a dozen paps, some of which were on scooters or bikes, immediately started following their SUV. Harry and Meghan’s security tried to lose the paps, and that’s when it turned into a chase. During the chase, one pap allegedly hit another car, and another nearly ran over an NYPD officer. At one point, Harry, Meghan, and Doria tried to lose the paps by jumping out of their SUV and into a cab. TMZ adds that the police were actually following Harry and Meghan’s SUV and “tried to outwit the paps by driving in a different direction than the cab.” TMZ also says that most of the chase happened on FDR Drive, a highway in Manhattan, and that Harry and Meghan’s SUV was going 80mph to try to shake the paps. Page Six source adds that even though the NYDP was involved, the paps didn’t give one fuck.

Once in the taxi, Harry used his cellphone to record the ensuing melee.

We’re told security was also recording to gather evidence.

Paparazzi were confronted by uniformed police officers, but ignored warnings and continued chasing the trio, we hear.

In a statement, the NYPD says that they helped Harry and Meghan’s security team last night during their “challenging” ride and that no collisions or injuries were reported, and no one was arrested:

“On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”

On top of this, TMZ reports that on Monday, a stalker was arrested near Harry and Meghan’s Montecito mansion. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Samantha Markle! The 29-year-old man was booked on misdemeanor stalking and later released on bail.

If Harry and Meghan ever find themselves in a chase with the paps through NYC again, there’s one easy way to get the paps to stop. Harry and Meghan should head to the nearest deli, order two messy egg salad sandwiches, go down to the subway, get into a car, and openly eat that shit. Nobody will go near them. Not even the paps.

Pic: Kevin Mazur/Getty