Your trusted source

A photo agency that took pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex during what the couple said was a dangerous car chase has refused to hand over the images to them.

Backgrid told BBC News it had rejected a legal demand to share the material taken in New York on Tuesday night.

In a tongue-in-cheek response, the agency's lawyers said Americans had long ago rejected "royal prerogative".

The BBC has asked the couple for comment.

Conflicting accounts of what Harry and Meghan's spokesperson described as a "near catastrophic car chase" resulting in "multiple near collisions" have emerged since the incident was made public on Wednesday.

New York police said "numerous photographers" had made the couple's journey from an awards ceremony 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, a California-based entertainment picture agency, said on Thursday it had received a letter from the Sussexes' legal team.

It said the letter, which the BBC has not seen, stated: "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 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."

In the UK there is no royal prerogative and there has long been tension between the Royal Family and the British media over privacy.