A gap between fantasy and reality that you could drive a car through
No-nonsense NYPD response to ‘challenging’ journey takes the drama out of royal couple’s tale
The first statement was laced with the sort of hyperbole we have come to expect from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex when alleging media intrusion into their lives.
According to their spokesmen, the couple had been “involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi”.
Taking place over two hours through the streets of New York City after Meghan had collected a Women of Vision award in a gold strapless £1,500 Johanna Ortiz dress, “this relentless pursuit” had “resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers”.
The NYPD’S response was less dramatic. “There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” the force said, adding: “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries or arrests.”
A celebrity’s “near catastrophic relentless pursuit” is a copper’s “challenging transport” situation.
Harry and Meghan, who were joined by her mother, Doria Ragland, were clearly upset at the behaviour of some photographers. A cynical observer might question the timing of their statement, just a day after Harry’s lawyers appeared in the High Court arguing that it was not only wrong of him to be stripped of his armed Metropolitan Police protection when he is back in the UK – but unfair for him to have been denied the right to reimburse the taxpayer for it.
Those familiar with the paparazzi in the US – compared to the rather tame behaviour of their British counterparts these days may also have been given pause for thought. In their Netflix series, Harry and Meghan complained of being followed wherever they went.
The reality, however, was rather different with hardly any paparazzi shots of the couple appearing in UK newspapers because so few are taken of royals in the post-leveson era.
Which is why, when it came to illustrating Harry’s claim that “history was repeating itself,” and Meghan was in danger of being killed like his mother Diana, Princess of Wales, the producers had to rely on footage of paparazzi at unrelated events.
One image purporting to be of photographers capturing the couple at a royal event, was actually taken at the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows premiere in 2011. It was accompanied by Harry saying: “I had to do everything I could to protect my family.” Another video clip showed photographers swarming a vehicle thought to be Harry and Meghan’s but it was actually of Michael Cohen, a
‘An image purporting to be of photographers capturing the couple was taken at a Harry Potter premiere’
lawyer to former President Donald Trump. Footage was also used in the six part series of photographers outside a UK court as model Katie Price arrived to be sentenced for drunkdriving. Netflix later claimed the shots were “not meant to be literal”.
But even a scene showing the couple being chased in their car by a photographer was actually filmed in the US, not UK.
There doesn’t appear to be any footage of the latest, two-hour, chase.
After what happened to Princess Diana, no one would condone the paparazzi pursuing celebrities, not least when there were opportunities to photograph the couple at a wellpublicised event. But as Harry pursues his case against the Home Office while suing three British newspaper groups, it may be worth reflecting that their safety was never compromised when living in the leafy confines of Windsor Great Park.