Back in 2021, during a highly publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey, Prince Harry had explicitly stated that he always feared “history repeating itself,” alluding to the extensive tabloid coverage that hounded both his mother Princess Diana — which resulted in her untimely death — and then his wife Meghan Markle. Sadly, his fears were not unfounded, as Harry and Meghan have been involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” while being followed by “aggressive paparazzi.”
As reported by CNN, his spokesperson has shared that Harry and Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland were accompanying Meghan at the Women of Vision Awards when they were chased by “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.”
Though the couple understands that being public figures comes with its hazards and they can’t escape media attention, “it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety.”
While the couple hasn’t shared any other comments on their near-fatal pursuit, the incident is bound to be a traumatic experience for Harry as he and Meghan could have met the same fate Diana did on Aug. 31, 1997. She sustained severe injuries earlier that night in a car crash while being relentlessly pursued by paparazzi who were hellbent on taking pictures of her and her partner Dodi Al Fayed. Their car slammed into a support column and spun out of control as they attempted to get rid of the reporters chasing them. The crash instantly killed Fayed and the driver while Diana succumbed to her injuries as medics tried to save her.
Harry — who has often called out the paparazzi for stooping to downright “harassment” in their strive to click pictures — horrifyingly experienced the same on Tuesday as he and Meghan were followed by cars, motorcycles, and scooters. Even the presence of a protective NYPD team did nothing to deter the paparazzi who kept racing after the couple’s car.
In the Netflix docu-series, Harry and Meghan, Harry shared how the in-your-face harassment employed by the paparazzi in the past is now majorly felt online. But this terrifying incident only highlights the lengths to which the media is still willing to go to secure a breaking story, ethics and humanity be damned.