Nothing to report. Buckingham Palace declined to comment when asked about Prince Harry and Meghan Markle‘s “near catastrophic” car chase in New York City.
“This is not something we’re commenting on,” the palace told Us Weekly when reached for a response on Wednesday, May 17. They have generally avoided comment on matters involving the Duke of Sussex, 38, and the Duchess of Sussex, 41, since they stepped down as senior working royals in 2020.
Earlier on Wednesday, a rep for the Sussexes revealed that the couple were involved in a car chase in NYC on Tuesday, May 16, after attending the Ms. Foundation’s 2023 Women of Vision Awards.
“This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers,” the spokesperson told Us. “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. Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.”
The New York Police Department later addressed the situation, saying that the department “assisted the private security team protecting” the Sussexes on Tuesday evening. Officials went on to clarify that the Suits alum and the Invictus Games founder — who were with Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland — eventually arrived at their destination safely. “There were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests in regard,” the NYPD added.
After the incident, an insider exclusively told Us that Harry, Meghan and Ragland, 66, were “very upset” by the experience and “terrified throughout the whole ordeal.”
The prince has previously been outspoken about his fight for security since he and Meghan relocated to the United States. In January 2022, he applied for a judicial review after the U.K.’s Home Office ruled that he could not personally fund police protection for his family when they visited England. (He and the former actress share son Archie, 4, and daughter Lilibet, 23 months.)
“Prince Harry inherited a security risk at birth, for life. He remains sixth in line to the throne, served two tours of combat duty in Afghanistan, and in recent years his family has been subjected to well-documented neo-Nazi and extremist threats,” he said in a statement at the time. “While his role within the Institution has changed, his profile as a member of the royal family has not. Nor has the threat to him and his family.”
After the Sussexes moved to North America, they began to “personally fund a private security team for their family,” the statement added, but the BetterUp CIO claimed that his private team would need more help during visits to his home country. “That security cannot replicate the necessary police protection needed whilst in the U.K.,” Harry continued. “In absence of such protection, Prince Harry and his family are unable to return home.”
Earlier this year, Harry revealed in his memoir, Spare, that he “never” believed he and his wife would lose police protection. “Not in this climate of hate. Not after what happened to my mother,” he wrote, referring to Princess Diana‘s death at age 36 in a 1997 car crash that occurred after she was chased through Paris by photographers.
The former military pilot added that he didn’t think the security battle would happen “in the wake of my Uncle [Prince] Andrew,” who was stripped of his royal titles in January 2022. The Duke of York, 63, was accused of sexually assaulting Virginia Giuffre when she was 17 in connection with the late Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking ring. Andrew denied any wrongdoing and Giuffre’s lawsuit against him was settled out of court in February 2022.
“He was embroiled in a shameful scandal, accused of the sexual assault of a young woman and no one had so much suggested that he lose his security,” Harry wrote of his uncle. “Whatever grievances people had against us, sex crimes weren’t on the list.”
