Prince Harry & Meghan Markle in ‘Near Catastrophic Car Chase’ with Paparazzi

Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and her mother Doria Ragland were reportedly chased down by “relentless” paparazzi following an NYC event on Tuesday night.

Harry’s spokesperson told Reuters it was a “near catastrophic car chase” that went on for hours following an awards ceremony.

The spokesperson continued, “This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD (New York Police Department) officers.”

"While being a public figure comes with a level of interest from the public, it should never come at the cost of anyone’s safety," the spokesperson added. "Dissemination of these images, given the ways in which they were obtained, encourages a highly intrusive practice that is dangerous to all involved.”

The NYPD told "Extra" in a statement, "On Wednesday evening, May 16, the NYPD assisted the private security team protecting the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. There were numerous photographers that made their transport challenging. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex arrived at their destination and there were no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests in regard."

According to TMZ, Harry, Meghan and Doria were in an SUV followed by police. At one point, the site says the SUV hit 80 miles per hour trying to avoid the photographers. They even tried to outsmart the paparazzi by having Harry, Meghan and Doria quickly jump into a taxi, while the police tried to trick the photographers into chasing them in the opposite direction.

Sources tell the site the paparazzi were following the royals in about six blacked-out vehicles as they allegedly drove on sidewalks, in the wrong direction on one-way streets, and ran red lights.

TMZ adds that the chase went on from 10 p.m. to about midnight.

A member of Prince Harry and Meghan's security team, Chris Sanchez, told CNN's Max Foster there were even more vehicles chasing the Sussexes. He believes the incident could have ended in fatalities.

Sanchez said, “I have never seen, experienced anything like this. What we were dealing with was very chaotic. There were about a dozen vehicles: cars, scooters and bicycles."

He continued, “The public were in jeopardy at several points. It could have been fatal. They were jumping curbs and red lights. At one point they blocked the limousine (carrying the couple) and started taking pictures until we were able to get out."

Sanchez said he was concerned for Harry and Meghan, but more so for the public, saying, "People were on sidewalks and crossing streets and the [paparazzi] were crossing red lights. We did everything by the letter of law."

He said afterward, Harry and Meghan “were scared, exhausted, but relieved to be back" where they were staying."

Meanwhile, the cab driver who helped Harry, Meghan and Doria spoke to The New York Daily News.

Sukhcharn Singh, 37, shared, “They were quite nice. They asked me my name and I only gave them my nickname, ‘Sonny,’ since my real name is hard.”

He said a man in a suit waved him down and the trio climbed in along with a security team member who sat in the front.

“They were nervous,” he said. “They were being chased the entire day. They were just about to tell me the location of where they wanted me to go but then all these paparazzi came out of nowhere — so they told me to drive!”

After circling the block he ended up dropping them at a police station.

Singh said of the high-profile passengers, “I wasn’t shocked. I’ve had Keith Richards in my cab before. Driving around Manhattan, you pick up a lot of celebrities.”

After the incident, People magazine reached out to the royals, but Buckingham Palace had no comment.

The scary incident eerily parallels what happened to Harry’s mother, Princess Diana, who died in a 1997 Paris car crash involving paparazzi.

The Tuesday evening event marked Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s first public event since King Charles III’s coronation.

Markle attended the Ms. Foundation’s Woman of Vision Awards: Celebrating Generations of Progress & Power with Harry and Doria by her side.

Meghan was among the women to receive a Vision Award for her global advocacy work empowering women and girls.

Co-founding “mother” of the foundation, Gloria Steinem, presented Markle with the award.

The Duchess of Sussex thanked Steinem in her speech "for the inspiration that you are, for your mentorship, your sage advice, your extraordinarily cheeky sense of humor and for your incredible friendship."

She also spoke about the influence Ms. magazine had on her as a child. "As a young girl, I would come home, I'd settle in after a day of school, pull up my TV tray with dinner and I would turn on my evening ritual: “Jeopardy!” And I'd glance at the coffee table, where I'd see an array of things: it could be the cat's collar, my homework, some mail that had just been brought in — and some magazines. The magazines said Ms. on them."

Meghan recalled, "I remember them vividly because the pictures were different. There was diversity that I hadn't seen as often, both of color and of age and the names were different. There were congresswomen, there were astronauts and the topics were different — from mothering to being a working mom to heavier topics such as domestic violence, the poverty line, unearthing its roots, where it comes from and matters of equity.

"I was too young at the time to know what most of it meant," but, she said, "the significance of these magazines was important."

Markle explained that seeing these magazines “signaled to me that there was just so much more than the dolled-up covers and the images that you would see on the grocery store covers."

She added, "It signaled to me that substance mattered.”

Looking back, Meghan explained, “I can now connect the dots in a much better way to understand how I became a young feminist and evolved into a grown activist.”

Earlier this month, Meghan skipped her father-in-law’s historic coronation. Harry, however, did attend the event alone amid their royal rift with his family. He was in the U.K. for just over 24 hours and reportedly did not meet with King Charles or his brother Prince William to try to mend their fractured relationship.