Prince Harry and Meghan Markle Demand Copies of All Photos Taken During Car Chase, But Photo Agency Refuses in Seriously Dramatic Fashion

(Image credit: Getty)

published 20 May 2023

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are apparently demanding the photos from their “near catastrophic car chase” earlier this week, Us Weekly reports. Backgrid, an entertainment photo agency, told the BBC yesterday that it received a letter from the Sussexes about the photos taken at the scene of the incident, which apparently lasted two hours.

“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,” Harry and Meghan allegedly wrote, per the BBC.

But Backgrid rejected the request, and in, um, quite a fiery response: “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. … 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.”

Whoa, okay.

Chris Sanchez, Harry and Meghan’s security detail, told CNN on Wednesday that the scene was “very chaotic,” and noted that it could have been fatal. “I have never seen [or] experienced anything like this,” he said. “What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters, and bicycles. The public were in jeopardy at several points. … They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine [carrying Harry and Meghan] and started taking pictures until we were able to get out.”

Harry and Meghan hopped in driver Sukhcharn Singh’s taxi after their security team flagged him down. “They looked nervous,” he told BBC News. “I think they were being chased the whole day or something. They were pretty nervous, but the security guard, he was on it.” When asked if the situation was dangerous, he said “I don’t think that’s true. I think that’s all exaggerated and stuff like that. Don’t read too much into that. New York City’s the safest place to be. There’s police stations, cops on every corner, there’s no reason to be afraid in New York.”

A source tells Us Weekly of Harry, Meghan, and her mother, Doria Ragland that the three were “terrified throughout the whole ordeal” and are “still very upset.”

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Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more.

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