Harry and Meghan get NYPD escort for their World Mental Health Day event

Harry and Meghan returned to New York City Tuesday for a mental health conference, and appeared to take additional security precautions, five months after their infamous 'car chase' claims created a P.R. headache for them.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle may no longer serve the British royal family, but they arrived at their World Mental Health Day event in New York City Tuesday like minor heads of state, riding in a fleet of seven blacked-out SUVs and escorted by a marked New York City Police Department vehicle.

Its possible that the California-based Duke and Duchess of Sussex took extra security precautions with their transport around Manhattan Tuesday because they felt grievously threatened by paparazzi during their last trip to the Big Apple in May, to the extent they made notoriously disputed claims that “aggressive” photographers forced them into a “near-catastrophic” car chase that put the lives of themselves and others at risk.

For their arrival Tuesday at the World Mental Health Day Festival, there appeared to be none of the “chaos” that NYPD officials said accompanied the couple’s last visit. The Daily Mail reported that their seven-vehicle convoy also pulled into an underground garage at the Hudson Yards, a setting more secure than arriving on the street, which was one of the issues during their last visit. The Sussexes were quickly surrounded by several security guards, but were “all smiles” as they entered the venue, while Meghan was curiously but stylishly dressed for the daytime event in an off-the-shoulder white jumpsuit.

The couple’s appearance at the Project Healthy Minds festival came a few hours after Harry’s brother, Prince William, and his wife, Kate Middleton, similarly marked World Mental Health Day with an event in the U.K. The Prince and Princess of Wales helped host “Exploring Our Worlds,” a forum for young people in Birmingham, U.K.

There was controversy last week when the feuding couples announced that they would both be appearing at events Tuesday to mark World Mental Health Day — though on opposite sites of the Atlantic.

There was much speculation online about whether one couple was trying to upstage the other with these World Mental Health Day events. Of course, one would think that both the Sussexes and the Wales only have good intentions about lending their famous names to support an important cause — youth mental health. After all, the two couples once were known as the “Fab Four” and briefly united to support Heads Together, a campaign that William, Kate and Harry launched in 2016 to tackle the stigma of mental illness.

Meghan & Prince Harry speaking at Project Healthy Minds' second-annual World Mental Health Day Festival at Hudson Yards in NY.pic.twitter.com/FwSTgY0OAa

— Queens R. Made (@QueenRMade1) October 10, 2023

For Harry and Meghan’s event at the Hudson Yards, the couple participated in a panel discussion organized by their Archewell Foundation, “Mental Wellness in a Digital Age,” which is designed to provide a platform for parents navigating their children’s mental health challenges in a digital age. They shared the stage with TV host Carson Daly, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and parents who have suffered a tragic loss connected to their children’s social media use.