The Duke and Duchess of Sussex leave the Ziegfield Theatre in Manhattan, New York City, on Tuesday night. The couple's spokesperson says after leaving the theatre, they were 'relentlessly pursed' by paparazzi for over two hours. Photo: Getty Images
A photo agency that took pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during what the royals said was a dangerous car chase has refused to turn over images of the incident to the couple.
Backgrid told the BBC they had rejected a demand by the couple's legal team to share all footage taken during Tuesday's pursuit in New York City.
Listen: RNZ's US correspondent Bevan Hurley talks to First Up about the paparazzi chase
The agency's lawyers said Americans had long ago rejected "royal prerogative".
The BBC has not independently verified the request from the Sussex legal team.
Conflicting accounts of what Harry and Meghan's spokesperson described as a "near catastrophic car chase" have emerged since the incident was made public on Wednesday.
New York police said "numerous photographers" had made the couple's journey on Tuesday evening "challenging", but added there had been "no reported collisions, summonses, injuries, or arrests".
A taxi driver who briefly drove them suggested their spokesperson's account was "exaggerated", while some photographers involved have denied parts of it.
Backgrid, an entertainment picture agency, said on Thursday it had received a letter from the Sussexes' legal team saying: "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."
The BBC has contacted the Sussexes for comment.
The agency said it had replied in a 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."
The Sussexes' spokesman said on Wednesday that the paparazzi had "relentlessly pursed" the couple through Manhattan for over two hours after they left an awards ceremony on Tuesday night, resulting in "multiple near collisions".
Backgrid said at the time it was investigating the conduct of four freelance photographers involved in taking images of the Sussexes, even as the agency disputed the couple's characterisation of the incident.
The photographers felt the couple were never in "immediate danger at any point", according to the agency.
- BBC