If you haven’t been keeping up with the royal traffic violations, here’s what has been going down.
Last week, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were “extremely upset and shaken” after being involved in a paparazzi car chase while out in New York City. The NYPD seems to remember it differently, claiming that “The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard.” In response, Harry and Meghan’s team then demanded that the photo agency Backgrid turn over the photos from the ordeal, which Backgrid denied. Being a royal sounds like a breeze!
Don’t worry, there’s more. Backgrid’s lawyer seems to have no sympathy for the couple, drafting up a scolding response that somehow invoked the wrath of George Washington and the like:
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.
It’s bold to stand by the founding fathers in this day and age, but that’s what they did! It was then revealed that the lawyer in question is Joanna “Jo” Ardalan, who has represented Backgrid for over 5 years (per The AV Club).
“It was a galling request,” Adalan explained, which is why she then spent over two hours intricately crafting a response that was intended to “put them in their place.” The duo has not pressed any further, as it seems their place has been put.
Ardalan added, “Do they really think they can do that to businesses just trying to do their work?” which could, in theory, be applied to the Duke and Duchess themselves, who were also just trying to do their work by leaving an event and head home. What do the founding fathers think of that? Probably be shocked that electric cars exist.
Either way, it doesn’t seem like we will ever know what went down during the alleged car chase (though if they really had nothing to hide, maybe they would hand over the photos….) Still, it’s pretty understandable for Prince Harry to feel triggered by a paparazzi-led car chase, considering that’s how his mother Princess Diana was killed over 25 years ago. It’s almost as if we as a society should re-evaluate following people around with cameras for fear of public safety. Or something.