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Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were involved in a "near catastrophic" car chase earlier this week and now, the photographer who chased them is speaking out.
In an interview with Good Morning Britain on Thursday (May 18), the photographer, who was kept anonymous, placed blame on Harry and Meghan's driver, Insider reports. The incident happened after the couple left the Ziegfeld Ballroom on West 54th Street in New York City on Tuesday. "Last night, after leaving the theater, there were hopes from me and a few other photographers that maybe they would go to a restaurant. For the most part, I was driving and it was very tense trying to keep up with the vehicles," the photographer said.
He added that Harry and Meghan's driver "did a lot of blocking" and drove in a way "to stop what was happening." "Their driver was making it a catastrophic experience. If they were going 80 mph, I would probably be going 20 mph behind them and hoping to keep sight of them. So if it was dangerous and catastrophic it more than likely was based on the person that was driving, versus anyone else," he continued.
A rep for Harry and Meghan released a statement about the incident that started when they left a gala. "This relentless pursuit, lasting over 2 hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and 2 NYPD officers," they said.
Paparazzi outside the event were in blacked-out vehicles that reportedly committed several traffic violations like driving on the sidewalk, running red lights and driving the wrong way down a one-way street. The couple wound up ditching their SUV and hopping in a cab to shake off the paparazzi. Law enforcement officials said photographers followed Harry and Meghan for over an hour up and down Franklin D. Roosevelt East River Drive. "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," NYPD spokesperson Julian Phillips told NBC News.
In a separate interview with Good Morning Britain, former butler to Princess Diana, who was killed in a similar incident in 1997, Paul Burrell said he "found it difficult to compute all the different statements which are coming from the Sussex camp."