Harry and Meghan – latest news: US photo agency mocks couple for ‘royal prerogative’ picture demands

The alleged car chase involving the royal couple is said to have lasted over two hours through the streets of New York

Meghan and Harry's taxi driver speaks out after 'chase'

Rishi Sunak has said “cars in New York are not really my priority” after the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s team said they avoided a “near catastrophic car chase” in the US city.

Harry and Meghan were followed by paparazzi after attending an awards ceremony with the duchess’s mother, Doria Ragland, according to a spokesman for the couple.

The New York Police Department said there were no arrests, injuries or reported collisions but said “numerous photographers” had “made their transport difficult” on Tuesday evening.

The Prime Minister said he was “not aware of a particular incident in question” and sought to discuss his domestic policies during an interview with the BBC in Japan, where he is attending a G7 summit.

Pressed if he has sympathy with a possible invasion of privacy or safety, Mr Sunak said: “I think just as all of us do, we want to make sure that we go about our day-to-day lives in safety and security.

Key Points

• Sunak focusing on UK safety rather than Harry and Meghan NY ‘car chase'
• Photo agency mocks Harry and Meghan, refusing to hand over pictures
• New York Police Department (NYPD) full statement
• Royal fans claim paparazzi ‘learned nothing from Diana’ after Meghan and Harry involved in car chase
• Harry and Meghan in ‘near catastrophic car chase’ involving paparazzi

[20 May 2023 10:30 · Nicole Vassell]

Why were Harry and Meghan in New York City?

Prior to the car chase incident, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex had been attending the 2023 Women of Vision Awards at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in Midtown Manhattan.

Meghan was the recipient of the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Award with Black Voters Matter co-founder LaTosha Brown.

It was her first public engagement since skipping the coronation of King Charles in London earlier this month.

In her acceptance speech, Meghan told how she had been inspired by reading the magazine as a child.

“It allowed me to recognise that part of my greater value and purpose in life was to advocate for those who felt unheard, to stand up to injustice, and to not be afraid of saying what is true and what is just and what is right,” according to the Associated Press.

[20 May 2023 13:30 · Shweta Sharma]

ICYMI: Photo agency mocks Harry and Meghan, refusing to hand over pictures

A photo agency that took pictures of Prince Harry and his wife Meghan Markle in a car chase has mocked the royal couple, refusing to hand over the material.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who called the alleged car chase by paparazzi in New York City on Tuesday night “near catastrophic”, demanded Backgrid, a California-based agency, hand over the pictures and videos taken during the encounter.

“We hereby demand that Backgrid [photo agency] immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours,” a letter from their lawyers said.

However, the agency’s lawyers snubbed the royal couple, saying they cannot just make demands in America “as Kings can do”.

“In America, as I’m sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do,” Backgrid’s legal team responded.

“Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago. We stand by our founding fathers,” it added.

[20 May 2023 15:00 · Nicole Vassell]

What have paparazzi said about the incident?

One of the paparazzi drivers allegedly involved in the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s car chase incident has shared his experience of the evening.

In his view, the event was a “catastrophic experience”.

Speaking to ITV’s Good Morning Britain on Thursday morning (18 May), the unidentified paparazzi driver said: “Last night after leaving the theatre, there were hopes from me and a few other photographers that maybe they would go to a restaurant.

“For the most part, I was driving and it was very tense trying to keep up with the vehicles.

“They did a lot of blocking and there was a lot of different type of manoeuvres to stop what was happening.”

Here’s the story in full:

[20 May 2023 17:15 · Nicole Vassell]

Information for story about Harry’s ex-girlfriend Chelsy Davy was ‘obtained legally’, says journalist

Amid the car chase incident, the Duke of Sussex is one of a number of high-profile figures currently suing Mirror Group Newspapers, which publishes The Mirror, the Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, over alleged unlawful information-gathering at its titles.

The duke is one of four “representative” claimants whose cases have been selected for a trial, being heard over six to seven weeks in London.

This week, a former Mirror journalist told the High Court that a 2004 article about Prince Harry’s then-girlfriend Chelsy Davy used information that had been “obtained legally”.

Here’s the story in full:

[20 May 2023 19:00 · Nicole Vassell]

Opinion: The real ‘near-catastrophic’ car crash is Meghan and Harry’s PR campaign

According to The Independent’s associate editor Sean O’Grady, the Duke and Duchess have laid themselves open to criticism with the description of events as we have them so far.

In a piece for Independent Voices, he wrote of their “near-catastrophic car crash”: “It’s a very evocative way to describe events. If the Sussexes were going to make such sensational claims against the paparazzi and, by implication, the police for failing to protect them, then you’d have expected them to present a stronger case.”

The opinion piece continues here:

[21 May 2023 07:55 · Katy Clifton]

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