Diana, Princess of Wales with her son Prince Harry during a holiday with the Spanish royal family at the Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, August 1987. Photo / Getty Images
Diana, Princess of Wales with her son Prince Harry during a holiday with the Spanish royal family at the Marivent Palace in Palma de Mallorca, Spain, August 1987. Photo / Getty Images
The Duke of Sussex, 38, revealed to friends that the paparazzi incident on Tuesday was the “closest I have ever felt” to understanding what happened on the night of his mother’s tragic passing, The Times reports.
In Harry’s memoir Spare, the Prince recounts driving through the same Parisian tunnel where his mother’s deadly car crash took place a decade later in order to come to terms with her death and find closure. His experience with grief over the untimely loss of his mother is a key theme throughout the autobiography, which was released back in January.
Operation Paget was an investigation into the many conspiracy theories regarding Diana’s death, which was started by British Metropolitan Police in 2004. David Douglas, a senior police officer who was part of the investigation, shared in a 2022 interview that the Princess of Wales’ passing was a “terrible, tragic accident”.
In the interview, host Ranvir Singh questioned whether her death was caused by a combination of not wearing seatbelts, photographers chasing the vehicle and the driver having alcohol in his system.
Duchess of Sussex Meghan Markle and Duke of Sussex Prince Harry attending the 2023 Women of Vision Awards ceremony in New York on May 16. Photo / Getty Images
“When you look at most incidents, accidents, you find there’s a chain of events, and if any one of those chain of events had been different, it might not have led to that happening,” Douglas replied. “For example, if they’d been wearing seatbelts, our experts tell us it was probably an 80 per cent chance that they would have survived the accident.”
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s representative told People the couple and Meghan’s mother, Doria Ragland, were involved in a “near catastrophic car chase” while being followed by “a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” on Tuesday evening.
The trio had attended the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Awards in New York, where Meghan was honoured.
“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 spokesperson said in a statement.
“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.”
Doria Ragland, Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex attend the Ms. Foundation Women of Vision Awards. Photo / Getty Images
The New York Police Department released a statement on Wednesday confirming that the police had helped Harry and Meghan’s security team.
“The NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging,” the statement said. “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.”
A source told People the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are rattled after the incident.
“It was a disturbing situation, and they were shaken, but they are glad everyone’s okay,” the insider said.
After taking pictures of the royals leaving the awards ceremony, photographers allegedly ramped up their pursuit in order to determine where Harry and Meghan were staying, according to the source.
