Prince Harry's rep denies claims he has private hotel room to escape Meghan Markle

Prince Harry does not have a private room at a luxury hotel where he allegedly stays to stay away from Meghan Markle.

A report from The Sun claimed that the hotel is near Montecito and that he has a "room set aside" where he stays without his wife. Sources for the publication claimed he "occasionally stays there."

He allegedly also frequents the exclusive San Vicente Bungalows, a private members club in Los Angeles, after he attends a nearby gym class called "Barry's Bootcamp." He regards the West Hollywood club as his "escape place," where guests are forbidden from taking pictures inside the venue and guests and members are told not to discuss anything they see during their visits.

According to the tabloid, the club has an annual fee of £3,200 and applicants must be vouched by a panel rumoured to include Hollywood actress Julia Roberts. However, a representative for Prince Harry denied these claims telling Page Six, "This is not true."

The allegations come after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle quietly celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary on May 19. It also comes after the couple divided the public's reactions over their "near-catastrophic" car chase in New York City on May 16.

The couple and the duchess' mum Doria Ragland were pursued by paparazzi after they left Manhattan's Ziegfeld Theater, where the former actress was honoured at the "Women of Vision Awards." They left the event around 10:00 p.m. in an SUV and were allegedly immediately pursued by paparazzi.

They eventually ditched the SUV and hopped inside a yellow cab in a bid to evade the photographers. An insider revealed that one cameraman hit a car while another nearly ran over an NYPD officer saying that "it started off with 12 paparazzi, then ended up with four chasing. Their security tried their best to lose [the paparazzi]." While in the cab, Prince Harry recorded the photographers with his phone as evidence. It is said that uniformed police officers confronted the paparazzi but they still chased the trio.

A spokesperson for the couple said in a statement, "Last night, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and Ms Ragland were involved in a near catastrophic car chase at the hands of a ring of highly aggressive paparazzi. This relentless pursuit, lasting over two hours, resulted in multiple near collisions involving other drivers on the road, pedestrians, and two NYPD officers."

"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." It is said that the "absolutely shocking" incident left Prince Harry and Meghan Markle "shaken" and Ragland "terrified."

NYC Mayor Eric Adams has since condemned the actions of the photographers saying, "It's clear that the paparazzi want to get the right shot, they want to get the right story, but public safety must always be at the forefront" adding that the two NYPD officers "could have been injured."

But not everyone is buying the car chase actually happened especially in a heavily populated city such as in New York. Whoopi Goldberg doubted the story during last week's episode of "The View."

"I think people in New York know if it was possible to have car chases in New York, we'd all make it to the theatre on time. But I think their spokesperson referenced something that you generally would reference in Los Angeles. That's where you have chases. That's where you can move at high speeds," she said.

But fellow host Sunny Hostin argued that "no one ever claimed that there was a high-speed chase." She also reminded viewers that Prince Harry's mother, Princess Diana died while being chased by paparazzi saying, "If they felt scared, I will grant them that. ... When you look at a situation like this, where his mother died of a catastrophic car chase and he knows that and [Meghan Markle] knows that, I wouldn't wanna be in a situation where e-bikes and sedans are sort of following me aggressively around the city."