Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently in the heat of the moment, following the news of their ‘heated, nearly-fatal car chase’ spreading on Wednesday.
With the New York Police Department (NYPD) insinuating that the events were exaggerated by the couple and there were no damages or arrests, several media houses are joining the claim to what might have been a traumatic experience for the Prince, -as his mother, Princess Diana died in similar light.
The couple are now trying to put the squeeze on a photo agency, Backgrid that claimed their freelance paparazzi who followed the couple Tuesday night were not, as they claimed, "highly aggressive" and didn't cause any near-collisions.
Harry and Meghan's legal team fired off a letter to the Backgrid photo agency, claiming in part they need the agency's footage of the "chase" to shore up their own security and maybe silence the people claiming their news was 'blown out of proportion'.
It read:
"We hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies of all photos, videos, and/or films taken last night by the freelance photographers after the couple left their event and over the next several hours."
Backgrid's lawyer has since rejected the Sussex's demand, saying in it’s own letter:
"In America, as I'm sure you know, property belongs to the owner of it: Third parties cannot just demand it be given to them, as perhaps Kings can do. Perhaps you should sit down with your client and advise them that his English rules of royal prerogative to demand that the citizenry hand over their property to the Crown were rejected by this country long ago. We stand by our founding fathers.”
Backgrid reveals they had 4 photographs, 3 in cars and one on a bike, adding they "had no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras."
Though there's no legal basis for Backgrid to turn over its footage and no lawsuit has been filed that would require the agency to turn over documents, the demand was still made.