A US photo agency has refused orders from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s lawyers to hand over all footage and pictures taken during Tuesday night’s alleged car chase.

Representatives for Prince Harry, 38, and Meghan Markle, 41, claimed photographers had “aggressively” pursued them for two hours after the couple left a glamorous awards ceremony in Manhattan.

Agency Backgrid USA later received a letter from the Sussexes’ legal team saying: “we hereby demand that Backgrid immediately provide us with copies” of everything taken by four freelance photographers who sent in images of the couple after they left the awards ceremony.

In a pithy response, Backgrid’s lawyers said: “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”, TMZ reported.

They suggested the lawyers sit down with Harry and Meghan and explain “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”.

They added: “We stand by our founding fathers.”

The couple left the Ms Foundation’s Women of Vision event in New York with Doria Ragland, Miss Markle’s mother, at around 9:50pm.