The photographic agency involved in Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s “near catastrophic” chase through New York City has fired back at the former royals after they demanded its footage of the incident.
Backgrid has told the BBC and other international media that it rejected a demand from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s legal team to hand over footage taken during Tuesday’s pursuit.
There are multiple reports that Harry and Meghan claimed, via their lawyers, that they wanted the footage to boost their future security.
“We hereby demand that Backgrid 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,” their letter to Backgrid said.
But the agency refused, firing off an incendiary reply to the King’s California-based younger son and his wife.
“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 lawyer wrote.
“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.”
Backgrid said it had four photographers involved in the incident in NY City – three in cars and one on a bike. They “had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras”, it said.
The lawyers’ letters came after Harry, Meghan and her mother, Doria Ragland, claimed they had been involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” involving paparazzi photographers after attending an awards ceremony on Tuesday night (local time).
Their representative said the incident involved half a dozen cars with blacked-out windows, driving dangerously and putting the lives of the couple and Ms Ragland in danger.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers,” their spokesperson said in a statement shared by royal reporter Omid Scobie.
Scobie told the BBC vehicles involved drove up to 80mp/h (130km/h) at times.
“It was sort of a game of cat and mouse. Sometimes their car sat in traffic surrounded by photographers on bikes and cars behind them, and then there were moments when the road was clear and the car went up to 80mp/h trying to lose some of the people that were following them,” he said.
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Harry, Meghan in 'near catastrophic' car chase
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The couple were shaken by the incident but otherwise unharmed.
The prince has long spoken out about his anger about press intrusion, which he blames for the death of his mother Princess Diana. She died after her limousine crashed as it sped away from chasing paparazzi in Paris in 1997.
The NYPD said it had assisted the couple’s private security team, but has played down the incident.
“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,” the NYPD said.
At one point, the trio swapped from their convoy of four-wheel-drives to a New York taxi. Cabbie Sonny Singh told an Australian radio station on Thursday that Harry and Meghan were “nervous and scared” when they swapped into his car after he was hailed by one of their security detail.
“There was no yelling and panic but the looks on their faces – you can tell that they were nervous and scared because they’ve been through this for the past two hours,” Mr Singh said.
But he also said he “never felt like I was in danger”.
“It wasn’t like a car chase in a movie. They (the couple) were quiet and seemed scared but it’s New York – it’s safe,” he said.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he had been briefed that two NYPD officers could have been injured in the incident.
“I don’t think there’s many of us who don’t recall how, how his mum died,” Mr Adams said.
“It would be horrific to lose an innocent bystander during a chase like this, and something to have happened to them as well.”
The couple had been staying in New York at a private residence but decided against returning there as they did not wish to compromise their host’s safety, according to their statement.
“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,” the statement said.
“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 stepped down from their royal roles in 2020 and moved to the US, partly because of what they described as intense media harassment.
-with AAP
