‘They looked nervous’: NYC cab driver recalls his drive from royals’ paparazzi frenzy

As royalty, the chaos and camera flashes surrounding an appearance aren't foreign territory to Prince Harry and his wife Meghan. 

But Tuesday night, after the duchess received the Ms. Foundation's Women of Vision award in Manhattan, that chaos took a turn for the worse.

"It was triggering for me. I can’t even imagine how it must have felt for them to experience something like that," one witness told FOX 5 New York.

She watched the start of those triggering moments before they'd be involved in a car chase that the couple's spokesperson called "near catastrophic." 

"As they described it, they were followed by 8-10 vehicles," said TMZ Executive Producer Charles Latibeaudiere. 

That pursuit and media frenzy evoked memories of the 1997 car chase through Paris that killed Harry’s mother, Princess Diana.

Prince Harry's "deepest fear is history repeating itself,″ according to a 2019 statement in a lawsuit filed against the publisher of the Daily Mail. 

The couple's office spokesperson said that the chase "resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians and two NYPD officers" and reportedly lasted for two hours. 

"I would find it hard to believe that there was 2-hour high speed chase," said New York City Mayor Eric Adams. 

Sukhcharn Singh, who goes by Sunny, rescued them from that chase after being flagged down by their security. 

"I was crossing on 67th and passed by your office going straight this way and I see a guy in a suit hailing me," he remembered. 

Sunny was pretty calm and collected seeing Prince Harry and his wife Meghan hop into his car but the couple definitely were not as calm. 

"They looked nervous. They looked nervous and scared," he explained. 

Over the years, a good number of celebrities have sat in those same seats of his cab. 

"But never with paparazzi chasing them. It was a big swarm; they just came out of every corner right. It was like 6 of them just flashing away," said Sunny. 

"For me it was not a big deal but for them because you know how he lost his mom to a paparazzi chase and it’s probably a big deal to them because he has experience losing his mom to paparazzi chasing them," he said. 

The night of chaos was worth it for the cab driver as the royal couple gave him a handsome tip. 

"The fare was $17.80, and they gave me $50," Sunny said. 

The driver’s phone, consequently, is now ringing off the hook. 

"I probably got a hundred missed calls from somebody. I got about 98 text messages right now today, all because of this," he told FOX 5.