Prince Harry's Worst Nightmare About Meghan Markle Nearly Just Came True

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle revealed a "near catastrophic" paparazzi car chase two years after warning "history was repeating itself."

Harry lost his mother, Princess Diana in a Paris car crash in 1997 when he was 12 years old and walked behind her coffin a week later at her funeral.

Almost exactly two years ago, the Duke of Sussex invoked his mother's memory as he warned the media was "not going to stop until [Meghan] dies," during an interview for his mental health documentary The Me You Can't See.

It is not hard to imagine what will have been running through his mind as, according to a statement from his spokesperson, "a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi" followed the taxi they shared with Meghan's mother, Doria Ragland, in New York on Tuesday for two hours.

"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," the statement read.

"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."

A spokesperson for the NYPD told Newsweek in a statement: "On Tuesday 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."

It is unclear why the couple were seemingly in a yellow New York taxi rather than a car driven by their private security team.

There were suggestions on social media that they may have switched to a cab after initially leaving a different vehicle from a gala put on by Ms. Foundation, at which Meghan was handed a Women of Vision award.

Footage published by TMZ showed a photographer taking multiple photos with flash through the window of the car while Harry filmed him on his mobile phone. A Sussex source told Newsweek the website's continued use of the footage and photos was "absolutely inexcusable" in light of the dangerous circumstances under which they were taken.

A security guard then got out of the vehicle and ushered the man away before the taxi then drives off with a police car following behind.

Any dangerous moments involving paparazzi chases will always bring Princess Diana's death to mind, but the wording of the Sussex statement appears to reference the blame placed on the British media in the aftermath.

Many of the paparazzi involved in the 1997 tragedy were French nationals but the British tabloid press took the brunt of the blame because they were the ones who had been offering large sums of money for images of Diana, encouraging the practice that then contributed to her death.

The final sentence of the statement is therefore crucial: "Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved."

Harry and Meghan are effectively warning any media organization that might publish paparazzi pictures that they will be blamed for encouraging the photographers should the unthinkable happen.

The strength of Harry's feelings on the subject was clear when he denounced media harassment of Meghan in The Me You Can't See in May 2021.

"My biggest regret is not making more of a stance earlier on in my relationship with my wife and calling out the racism when I did. History was repeating itself," he said. "My mother was chased to her death while she was in a relationship with someone that wasn't white and now look what's happened. You want to talk about history repeating itself, they're not going to stop until she dies."

Update 5/17/23, 12:56 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.

Update 5/17/23, 1:13 p.m. ET: This article was updated to include a statement from the NYPD.

Jack Royston is chief royal correspondent for Newsweek, based in London. You can find him on Twitter at @jack_royston and read his stories on Newsweek's The Royals Facebook page.

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