Harry and Meghan demand photo agency give them footage of NYC ‘chase’

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle demanded that a photo agency hand over footage snapped by paparazzi during their high-profile “chase” in New York City — but the firm gave them the royal snub, lawyers said Thursday.

The embattled Duke and Duchess — who described their run-in with Big Apple photographers Tuesday as “near-catastrophic” — insisted they need the images to improve their own security, according to TMZ.

“We hereby demand that Backgrid [photo agency]  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,” a letter from their lawyers proclaimed Wednesday.

But attorneys for the celebrity photo agency refused, firing  back that the royals can’t play by the king’s rules here in the states.

“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,” Backgrid’s legal team responded.

“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,” it states.

The company said it hired four shutterbugs, including one on a bike, to snap shots of the couple with “no intention of causing any distress or harm, as their only tool was their cameras,” according to the outlet.

On Wednesday, the royals said they were relentlessly chased by paparazzi for two hours after leaving an event at Ziegfeld Ballroom Tuesday — drawing comparisons to the 1997 crash that killed Princess Diana, Harry’s mother.

Cops, however, said the incident wasn’t nearly as dramatic as the couple’s description, calling it somewhat hectic but overall under control.

Legally, there doesn’t appear to be any grounds to force the photo agency to turn over the images.

The Post has requested a copy of the exiled royals’ letter to Backgrid.