Yesterday morning, we were still in the glow of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s appearance at the Ms. Foundation event on Tuesday night. Meghan and Harry looked amazing, Doria Ragland looked proud of her daughter and son-in-law and we believed everything was great. That was before we learned about the near-catastrophic paparazzi chase. But going back to the hours before the Sussexes’ spokesperson made that statement, I found it strange that there was barely any commentary from the British papers. The Mail and Express posted photos from the chase, then quickly deleted those stories, but there was no onslaught of nasty commentary from the peanut gallery of royalist clowns. Part of me now wonders if they were mad that the British tabloids’ operation in New York had gone sideways, to the point where the NYPD got involved.
Keep in mind, whenever Meghan and Harry breathe, the Mail, the Sun, the Express and the Mirror run dozens of stories about how the Sussexes are disgusting for stealing everyone’s air. Not only was there a distinct lack of commentary before we learned about the pap chase, there’s also been a great deal of silence in the British tabloids over the past 18 hours or so. The official word seems to be to discredit the Sussexes’ story, to treat the dangerous pap chase as some kind of Sussex fantasy designed to… what, exactly? Get attention? They were already getting plenty of attention for their appearance at the awards ceremony.
Well, Camilla Tominey at the Telegraph is one of the few commentators brave enough to do the nasty work of undermining and lying about the Sussexes. She wrote a piece published last night that the pap chase story was all about Harry suing the Met Police for the right to reimburse them for police protection when he’s in the UK. Tominey also suggests that the Sussexes would be “safer” in the UK.
A cynical observer might question the timing of their bombshell statement, however, coming just a day after Harry’s lawyers appeared in the High Court arguing that it was not only wrong of him to be stripped of his armed Metropolitan Police protection when he is back in the UK, but unfair for him to have been denied the right to reimburse the taxpayer for it.
Those familiar with the actions of the paparazzi in the US – compared with the rather tame behaviour of their British counterparts these days – may also have been given pause for thought.
In their Netflix series, Harry and Meghan repeatedly complained of being doggedly followed wherever they went.There doesn’t appear to be any footage of the latest, two-hour, chase.
After what happened to Princess Diana, no one would condone the paparazzi pursuing celebrities in vehicles, not least when there were ample opportunities to photograph the couple at what was a well-publicised event.
But as Harry pursues his case against the Home Office while suing no less than three British newspaper groups – it may be worth reflecting that their safety was never compromised when they were living in the leafy confines of Windsor Great Park.
“There doesn’t appear to be any footage of the latest, two-hour, chase” – there is plenty of footage, but the Sussexes’ legal team have clearly warned photo agencies not to buy the videos and photos. I’ve already seen videos of the paparazzi closing in on the taxi and photos of the Sussexes leaving the 19th precinct. Plus, Harry and his security were reportedly recording their own footage too.
“The actions of the paparazzi in the US – compared with the rather tame behaviour of their British counterparts these days” – while I have no evidence of this at the moment, I would be willing to bet that most of the paparazzi chasing the Sussexes were not Americans. And I notice how carefully Tominey worded that as well – probably because she knows that the British media contracted out or shipped in these people.
“Their safety was never compromised when they were living in the leafy confines of Windsor Great Park.” Yeah, all that happened when they lived in Windsor was a wall-to-wall hate campaign in the British media, the objective of which was to drive Meghan to suicide. Still, the Sussexes knew that Frogmore Cottage was secure, which is why they paid millions of dollars to keep their lease on it, only for King Charles to evict them and offer Frogmore to Prince Andrew free of charge.
Photos courtesy of Netflix.
