Bethenny Frankel has suggested Prince Harry and Meghan Markle to keep away from paparazzi hotspots in a viral video after the royal couple have been adopted by photographers whereas leaving an awards present in New York Metropolis.
Harry and Meghan attended the Ladies of Imaginative and prescient Awards, by Ms. Basis for Ladies, on the Ziegfeld Theater in Midtown Manhattan on Tuesday evening. Their spokesperson mentioned the couple have been concerned after the occasion in a “near-catastrophic automobile chase” with the paparazzi.
Harry and Meghan have been touring together with her mom, Doria Ragland. The spokesperson mentioned the “relentless” chase lasted over two hours and “resulted in a number of near-collisions involving different drivers on the highway, pedestrians and two NYPD officers.”
Kevin Mazur/Getty Pictures Ms. Basis for Ladies/Raymond Corridor/GC Pictures
The incident attracts damning parallels with the paparazzi pursuits endured by the prince’s late mom, Princess Diana. She died from accidents sustained in a 1997 high-speed Paris automobile crash whereas being chased by photographers.
Former Actual Housewives of New York Metropolis star Frankel took to social media to debate the incident and criticism of the couple. Some commentators have accused Harry and Meghan of overdramatizing the occasion, following the publication of images and eyewitness accounts.
“Are we going to speak about Meghan and Harry and the automobile chase,” Frankel instructed her 1.4 million TikTok followers. “In order that sounds very scary. To be wanted and hounded sounds very scary. That is the sincere reality.”
“Eric Adams (New York Metropolis mayor) mentioned that form of automobile chase was most unlikely to have occurred. Now there are all these completely different accounts forwards and backwards, however let’s break it down…” Frankel added.
“They stayed quiet for some time, which was useful for them,” Frankel mentioned earlier than speaking a few earlier paparazzi pursuit proven by the couple of their 2022 Harry & Meghan docuseries.
“The story about Diana and the paparazzi chase, and of their Netflix present, they have been exhibiting {that a} paparazzi was following them and it appeared very dramatic,” Frankel mentioned, “but it surely did not seem like it was really that dramatic what was occurring, which means it did not look like it was a loopy, loopy automobile chase, and it did not appear that dire, proper?
“Now the issue is, it is the ‘boy who cried wolf’,” Frankel mentioned. “Maybe this was the worst automobile chase since Princess Diana, however individuals have a tough time believing it as a result of they have been elevating their fingers a lot, saying: ‘We’re experiencing the identical factor as my mom who was killed in a paparazzi automobile chase.’
“It is a story that retains being pushed. So it looks like it suits completely… in that narrative of: ‘Oh, it is a great way, now we lastly get to show that it’s as dangerous because it was for Diana,'” she added.
On what this implies for the couple, Frankel mentioned they need to cease attending occasions in New York or Los Angeles that put them in pointless hazard.
“You may reside a really, very well-rounded life with out getting into into the attention of this very harmful storm,” she added. “So do not go if it is a large danger and you might be hounded by the paparazzi advert nauseam and it will danger your life.”
MEGA/GC Pictures
Following Tuesday evening’s incident, the NYPD launched an official assertion that mentioned the chase concerned “quite a few photographers” who made Harry and Meghan’s journey from the Ziegfeld Theater “difficult.”
“The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their vacation spot,” the assertion added. “And there have been no reported collisions, summonses, accidents or arrests in regard.”
This isn’t the primary time the couple have been photographed by the paparazzi within the U.S. It comes as Prince Harry has been brazenly important of the U.Ok. press and tabloid media for concentrating on his spouse, whom he mentioned he feared would comply with the identical destiny as his mom.
In a 2021 documentary interview with Oprah Winfrey, Harry mentioned: “Historical past was repeating itself.”
Referring to the racially centered protection Meghan acquired in Britain, the prince continued: “My mom was chased to her demise whereas she was in a relationship with somebody that wasn’t white and now look what’s occurred. You need to speak about historical past repeating itself? They don’t seem to be going to cease till [Meghan] dies.”
Since leaving the monarchy and shifting to the U.S. in 2020, the couple have employed a non-public safety staff, which accompanied them on Tuesday evening.
Harry is concerned in a authorized battle in Britain over the federal government’s determination to take away his 24-hour state-funded bodyguards. The prince has mentioned that he ought to be capable of pay for armed police safety when he visits the U.Ok.
Newsweek approached representatives for Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Bethenny Frankel by way of e mail for remark.
James Crawford-Smith is Newsweek‘s royal reporter, based mostly in London. You will discover him on Twitter at @jrcrawfordsmith and skim his tales on Newsweek‘s The Royals Fb web page.
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