Prince Harry, Meghan Markle's car chase ordeal echoes Princess Diana's fate

It's an alarming case of deja vu that Prince Harry may have predicted.

After attending a gala in New York City on May 16, Harry and his wife Meghan Markle, along with her mother Doria Ragland, were involved in a "near catastrophic car chase" with "highly aggressive paparazzi," according to a rep for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

"This relentless pursuit, which lasted over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians, and two NYPD officers," their rep said in a statement.

"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," he added.

The incident comes just five months after Harry opened up about his fear that his wife and his late mother, Princess Diana, would have similar, heartbreaking fates.

"I was terrified," Harry—who previously stepped back from royal duties in 2020—said in their Netflix docuseries, Harry & Meghan. "I didn't want history to repeat itself."

Harry was only 12 years old when his mother and her partner at the time, 42-year-old Dodi Fayed, were killed in a car crash in Paris' Ponte de l'Alma tunnel, with their driver slamming into a pillar as they were speeding away from paparazzi.

"My job is to keep my family safe," the 38-year-old said in the docuseries. "But, given the nature of being born into this position and everything that comes with it, as well as the level of hatred that has been stoked in the last three years, particularly against my wife and son, I'm generally concerned for the safety of my family," he added.

His mother's death also had a significant impact on how he viewed the paparazzi.

"I think one of the hardest things to accept is that the people who chased her into the tunnel were the same people who were taking photographs of her while she was still dying in the backseat of the car," Harry said in the 2017 BBC documentary Diana, 7 Days.

He added that it is a wound that has not healed yet.

"Every single time I see a camera, every single time I hear a click, every single time I see a flash, it takes me straight back to that moment," he said.