LONDON – The latest chapter of the drama There has been a lot of excitement surrounding the tabloid media’s treatment of Prince Harry and Meghan.
But what exactly happened on Tuesday night in New York, as the royals left a gala event and were followed by a group of photographers, wasn’t entirely clear. It was clear that the prosecution would likely only fuel Harry’s anger at the media and his greatest fear that the same fate befell his wife as his mother, Princess Diana. who died in a car accident while being pursued by paparazzi.
The couple’s reps claimed they were followed by paparazzi through the streets of Manhattan in a “near-disastrous chase.” Police said the pursuit was relatively brief, resulted in no injuries, clashes or arrests and warranted no further investigation. And a photo agency later claimed it was Harry and Meghan’s security guards who acted recklessly.
Harry’s perception of what happened – and his overall relationship with the media – is undoubtedly influenced by the death of his mother when he was just 12 years old. He said his “deepest fear” is that the same thing could happen to Meghan and already accuses the media of hounding her.
“My mother was hunted down,” Harry said in the mental health documentary The Me You Can’t See. “Now look what happened. Want to talk about history repeating itself? They won’t stop until she dies.”
Harry’s struggle with the news media has taken two forms: speaking out against his perceived mistreatment of what he says is his life’s work of reforming the press, and taking tabloids to court in London, where a case is currently being heard.
Safety for Harry and Meghan has been an issue since the UK government stripped them of protection when they moved to California in 2020, and it features in three of his lawsuits against the government and the tabloids. The couple said they would fund their security themselves.
The prosecution in New York was carried out on the same day by a lawyer for Harry argued before a London court that he should be able to challenge a government decision denying him the right to pay police for his own safety in the UK
Harry, the younger son of King Charles III, has argued that his safety was “at risk due to the lack of police protection” during a short visit to the UK in July 2021 when his car was followed by photographers as he left a charity event.
On Tuesday, Harry and Meghan, also known as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, left the Ms Foundation Awards in Manhattan As photographers engaged in a “relentless pursuit” that resulted in “multiple near misses,” according to a spokesman for the couple.
At one point, the pair took refuge at a police station before attempting to escape photographers in a yellow cab. The taxi driver who drove Harry and Meghan said the photographers “followed us all the time,” although he wouldn’t call it a car chase.
The report prompted New York City Mayor Eric Adams to condemn the paparazzi who were stalking them as “reckless and irresponsible.”
A photo agency issued a statement denying that the freelance photographers involved did anything wrong, stressing that they “had no intention of causing trouble or harm.”
On the contrary, Backgrid USA said photographers on hand reported that some of Harry’s security escort “did driving in a manner that could be perceived as reckless.” But Backgrid also said it takes the couple’s concerns seriously and will investigate the incident.
With their move to the US, Harry and Meghan have tried to take control of history. They resigned as working royals in 2020, citing what they felt was intolerable abuse and racist attitudes by the UK media towards Meghan, who is multiracial.
They sat for two hours TV interview with Oprahstarted a six-part series on Netflix about their life together, and Harry released his best-selling memoir, Spare.
The media uproar met with sympathy and contempt. British tabloid headlines about the couple are often negative.
In the US, the South Park TV show spoofed the couple in an episode called The Worldwide Privacy Tour, in which the “Prince and Princess of Canada” — cartoonish Harry and Meghan lookalikes — jet off around the planet on a promotional tour , to get people to stop talking about them. The episode was mentioned in detail in the aftermath of the so-called chase.
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, transcribed, or redistributed without permission.
