Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s Paparazzi Chase in New York: Echoes of Princess Diana and a Risky Own Goal

BBad memories were awakened when a message came from New York on Wednesday afternoon US East Coast time. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry got into a paparazzi chase in the metropolis that “could have ended fatally”.

Reflexively, images of August 31, 1997, Paris flashed in the minds of millions of people around the world. The black Mercedes limousine crashed in the tunnel under the Place de l’Alma, containing the seriously injured Princess of Wales. Harry’s mother succumbed to her injuries shortly after the accident, she was only 36 years old.

Prince Harry has often spoken out about his fears that his wife might meet the same fate. The British press’ relentless hunt for the couple, less than two years after their fairytale wedding at Windsor Castle, was one of the reasons for their flight across the Atlantic. An escape from the press, and from racism.

“My mother was hunted to death when she was in a relationship with someone who wasn’t white – and look what happened,” the prince claims, referring to Diana’s partner Dodi al-Fayed in one of the now numerous documentaries. “Will history repeat itself? They won’t stop until she’s dead.”

A “relentless hunt that lasted more than two hours”

Now it seems as if there is no security on another continent either. “Highly aggressive paparazzi” pursued them, “in a relentless hunt that lasted more than two hours and resulted in multiple near misses involving other motorists, pedestrians and two police officers,” a spokesman for the Dukes of Sussex said . Meghan presented an award at a gala in New York before the incident on Tuesday night.

The problem with the latest chapter in the Sussex saga is that it risks an own goal. Other protagonists of the New York night portray it as far less dramatic – once again making the couple the ideal target for the unsympathetic British press.

“A cynical observer might wonder about the timing of the latest shocking news. Just a day after Harry’s High Court lawyers argued that London police shouldn’t have removed his bodyguards,” notes the columnist „Daily Telegraph“adding scathingly: “A gap between fantasy and reality that you could drive a car through.” The prince is currently in court with the UK Home Office over funding his security, despite getting it from taxpayers’ own funds want to balance.

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The London judges will probably not be impressed by the explanations of the New York police. “There were a lot of photographers present, which made the transport a challenge,” confirmed the NYPD. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their accommodation and there were no reports of clashes, summonses, injuries or arrests.”

“New York is the safest place ever,” says the driver

The fact is that the couple, together with Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland, cruised through Manhattan in a limousine for an hour after the end of the gala to hang out with the paparazzi. The three had spent the night privately at a friends house and wanted to shake off the reporters, it said. Finally they got into a taxi. His driver then told the BBC his guests had seemed scared. “They must have been followed all day or something. But the paparazzi were not aggressive. New York is the safest place ever.” He ended up dropping the three off at a police station, which they later left unnoticed by the press.

Now the allegations go back and forth as to what really happened and who is to blame. New York Mayor Eric Adams said it was “nefarious and irresponsible” to pursue a manhunt in his city. “Two of our officers could have been injured.”

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The question, however, is who is responsible. An eyewitness reported that „New York Post“that the Sussex’s security guards themselves provoked the photographers. “They made fun of the paparazzi. That’s what you expect from a rapper’s bodyguards. Good security, which one should expect in this case, should be like the Secret Service.” In Harry’s case, however, the security men would rather have instigated the reporters. The British „Times“ reports that one of the US photo agencies wants to have the “reckless actions” of the bodyguards investigated.

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Royal-Expertin Tina Brown

The royalist „Daily Mail“ points out that Harry and Meghan’s popularity ratings have recently plummeted not only in the prince’s home country, but also in the United States. “According to a Newsweek poll, only 27 percent of Americans still like Meghan, 44 percent don’t.” 44 percent also said Harry shouldn’t have disclosed any private details in his autobiography “Spare”, only 26 percent had the opposite opinion .