More than 25 years after the tragic death of Princess Diana and Dodi al-Fayed, in a car accident in Paris in the Alma tunnel while escaping the paparazzi, the specter of that drama seems to fall on the second son of the Princess of Wales, Harry, and his wife Meghan Markle.
Two hours of high tension those experienced by the Dukes of Sussex last night in New York, in which they ran the risk of incurring a fatal accident.
The couple, along with Meghan Doria's mother, were fresh from the Ziegfield Theatre, where the duchess had been honored by legendary feminist Gloria Steinem for her activism on behalf of women.
Boarding an SUV, the three were involved in an almost catastrophic chase by a swarm of very aggressive paparazzi in the heart of Manhattan. In an attempt to escape photographers hungry for shots, "they narrowly avoided being involved in a serious chain collision," a source close to the couple told The New York Post.
Yesterday's was Harry and Meghan's first public appearance since the coronation of King Charles on May 6, in which the prince attended alone. The couple had allowed themselves to be photographed at the entrance and exit of the event. But then once in the car, Harry and his wife were chased by a group of recklessly driven cars.
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Harry and Meghan, car accident chased by paparazzi
"Their safety did everything to stop them," the source close to the couple said. At the exit of the theater she got into the SUV on which she had arrived at the event, but then - as the situation was complicated - she abandoned the car to get into a taxi "as a last desperate attempt to seed the photographers". In the chase, one cameraman hit a car, while another hit an officer.
"The police also tried to stop the paparazzi but they ignored the warnings." According to the couple's spokesman, who broke the news, the chase lasted over two hours, resulted in multiple collisions involving other cars, pedestrians and two police officers. Harry and Meghan, the spokesman said, are "shaken and exhausted".
Lady Diana's death and Harry's war on the 'paparazzi'
It is inevitable, on learning the news, not to jump back to that dramatic August 31, 1997, when Lady Diana was the victim, with Dodi al-Fayed, of a fatal car accident under the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, while the Mercedes on which they were traveling was chased by a reporter and some photographers.
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In the archive photo of August 31, 1997), some policemen around the Mercedes of Lady Diana and Dodi Al Fayed after the accident under the tunnel of the Alma Bridge
Just Harry involved in a story similar to that experienced by his beloved mother, he who openly, in the biography 'Spare', has put on paper what has always been stated, that is, that it was the paparazzi who caused Diana's death: "She died and they took pictures".
His version of events had already been told by the second son of King Charles III in an interview with the British channel ITV news in which the Duke of Sussex explained how in the Alma tunnel, where he had personally gone, it was practically impossible to lose control of the car: "It was a short tunnel, without particular passages".
From then on, Harry's anger and resentment against the press never passed. The most frequent quarrels that have seen him in court are those against newspapers. Particularly well known is his battle against the British tabloids regarding the violation of privacy and the attacks suffered by his wife Meghan. A battle that, so far, has failed, together with Harry and Meghan's search for privacy, to protect the couple from continuous media intrusions into their lives.
And so, after the risk taken last night by the couple who renounced the Windsor title, the words entrusted to Harry's spokesman seem a new, heartfelt appeal to respect people's privacy: "As much as being a public figure implies a level of interest on the part of the public, this must not be the price of anyone's safety. The dissemination of these images, given the way they were obtained, encourages highly intrusive methods that are dangerous to everyone involved."