Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland have been involved in a dramatic car chase in New York, according to a spokesperson for the couple.
The chase is understood to have involved paparazzi and was described by the spokesperson as ‘relentless’ and ‘near catastrophic’.
A spokesperson for Harry said in a statement shared with Cosmopolitan: "Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of 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."
The statement continued: "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 in involved."
The NYPD have yet to comment on or confirm the incident, though it is understood to have involved six blacked-out vehicles, multiple traffic violations and attempted interventions by uniformed officers.
The chase is understood to have taken place following the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s appearance at the Ms Foundation for Women’s 50th anniversary gala event on Tuesday night, at which Meghan was presented with the Women of Vision Award.
Accepting the award, Meghan said: “I am a woman who remains inspired and driven by this organisation. 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.”
Meghan was presented the award by feminist activist Gloria Steinem.
The event marked the couple’s first public outing since the King’s coronation earlier this month, which Harry attended alone while Meghan remained at home in Montecito, California, to celebrate their son Prince Archie’s fourth birthday. Harry flew back to LA shortly after the coronation.
Harry is currently at the centre of a High Court legal battle against Mirror Group Newspapers over allegations of unlawful information gathering. The prince has also made his feelings around press behaviour and paparazzi conduct clear in his autobiography Spare, which was released earlier this year.
In the book, the Duke described factions of the media as, “a dreadful mob of dweebs and crones and cut-rate criminals and clinically diagnosable sadists along Fleet Street.”
Cosmopolitan UK has reached out to the Duke and Duchess of Sussex for further comment
Harriet Hall is an award-winning journalist and the Features Director at Cosmopolitan. Most recently she was awarded Best Feature for her investigation into Andrew Tate and online misogyny at the 2023 Write to End Violence Against Women awards and the BSME for Best Lifestyle Journalist in 2022 for her work covering women’s safety, women's health, politics and pop culture. As a journalist of over a decade, her work has seen her interview celebrities from Zendaya to Zac Effron and politicians including Jeremy Corbyn (just five days before the 2017 general election); report on fashion weeks and take on stunts in the name of feminism. She has written for a range of publications including The Independent where she ran the lifestyle desk for four years, Evening Standard, Vogue, BBC News and Stylist. Harriet also regularly appears across numerous platforms to discuss her work, from Sky News to Radio 4 Woman’s Hour and on panels such as at the prestigious Woman of the World Festival. Her first book ‘She: A Celebration of 100 Renegade Women’ was published by Headline Home in 2018 and you can find her Tweeting, Instagramming and on Linkedin when she isn’t curled up on the sofa with a good book and the smallest dog in the world.
