Prince Harry was suspicious that the so-called “car chase” he and Meghan Markle were involved in with paparazzi photographers through the streets of Manhattan back in May 2023 was being covered up! You know, despite nobody else even remotely seeing it the same way?
According to new emails and letters unearthed by DailyMail.com on Friday, Prince William‘s estranged little bro pressured the NYPD to speed up their investigation into the car chase that supposedly saw Harry and Meghan hunted down by photographers at high speeds to the point of a “near catastrophic” conclusion. He also pressured the department to make arrests, and even threatened to get California Governor Gavin Newsom involved!
These emails and letters shed light on just how seriously Harry was taking the alleged situation. One email sent from the prince’s private security firm TorchStone to the NYPD straight-up stated:
“The duke feels intentionally misled and is suspicious of a cover-up.”
Whoa!
The “cover-up” claim came in response to NYPD’s top intelligence officer John Hart sending two letters to London police officials about the matter. In the first, sent in September of 2023, Hart said cops in the Big Apple didn’t have enough evidence to make any arrests. But then three months later, in December, Hart sent a second letter claiming there was enough evidence to bring charges against several people. Huh?!
The timing of the second letter is a bit sus, too. It arrived in the hands of London cops midway through a hearing in the UK city in which Harry was trying to get the British government to pay for protection for him, Meghan, and the couple’s two children while visiting the country.
Miffed by the apparent waffling on NYPD’s part, Harry’s private security firm lit into Hart’s team. Elsewhere in the “cover-up” email sent to Hart on December 21, 2023, a TorchStone rep expressed how Harry wanted things taken care of ASAP in regards to bringing charges against paparazzi photogs — or else the Duke would file an official complaint:
“Chief Hart, I am writing on behalf of the Duke of Sussex as he has asked that certain things be taken care of by this Friday as it relates to the incident last May in NYC, before he moves forward with an official complaint to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.”
BTW, that email was sent on the Thursday before Christmas. So, the “by this Friday” timeline Harry demanded for NYPD action carried less than 24 hours notice to act on the Friday before Christmas. Jeez, dude!
The TorchStone rep’s email didn’t stop there:
“[Harry] would like the arrests of the paparazzi to happen or have an official letter stating why they have not been arrested or a letter from the DA’s office on why they haven’t accepted charges. He intends to file a formal complaint about the handling of the situation since May and a complaint against you on whether the DA’s office had the evidence of the paparazzi in the first place to press charges.”
And then, as we noted, it name-dropped Governor Newsom! Despite the Democrat leader running a state clear on the opposite coast, the email very unsubtly bullied the DA’s office to act with threats of getting the guvnah involved:
“The Duke has contacted Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office to assist in finding the right point of contact in the Manhattan District Attorney’s office or higher up for further discussions. If there is anything that you would like me to formally pass to the Duke, please let me know and I would be happy to do so.”
Honestly, we wonder how that conversation went down between Harry and Gavin. After all, the politician doesn’t think highly of Harry’s Suits alum wife… to put it very mildly!
In response, Hart wasn’t terrified by the Newsom threat. Far from it! Instead, he merely noted the NYPD would henceforth only handle case updates through their lawyers! Hart replied:
“Okay — based on this we will refer all case updates or lack thereof only through counsel. Please let us know if they have any further travel to NYC region — we will continue to provide coverage reflective of the October visit.”
And that was that!
Whew.
As we’ve previously reported, Harry and Meghan released a statement last May claiming they were in NYC when “a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi” pursued them through the streets of Manhattan. Royal biographer Omid Scobie notably later asserted that the pursuit “went on for two hours,” and the car in which the Sussexes were traveling “went up to 80 miles an hour.”
But almost immediately, people called BS on the claims. That list included NYC Mayor Eric Adams, who said it was “hard to believe” that there was such a lengthy high-speed car chase winding through the congested streets of Manhattan. Others were skeptical of the Sussex fam’s claims, too, including Prince William’s pals and, uh, the general public. (Gayle King was on Harry and Meghan’s side, tho, for whatever that’s worth…) At the end of the day, it just kind of seems like it felt like a high-speed chase to them. Which isn’t the same.
To this day, no arrests have been made. We can bet Harry’s still not too happy about that!
