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‘No injuries of concern’ for Prince Philip, 97, after car crash
LONDON, Jan 19, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Queen Elizabeth II’s 97-year-old husband
Prince Philip visited hospital for “a precautionary check-up” on Friday that
found “no injuries of concern” after a car crash the previous day that rolled
the Land Rover he was driving.
“On doctor’s advice the Duke of Edinburgh visited the Queen Elizabeth
hospital… this morning for a precautionary check-up,” a Buckingham Palace
spokeswoman told AFP.
“This confirmed his royal highness had no injuries of concern,” she added,
without specifying the extent of any minor injuries.
This contrasted with a statement from Buckingham Palace on Thursday that
stated the prince “was not injured”.
The queen has issued no public comment about the crash.
The accident occurred near the queen’s Sandringham Estate in south east
England, where the couple spend much of the winter.
A nine-month-old baby who was in the back seat of the other car, a Kia
hatchback, was also uninjured, while one woman in the vehicle broke her wrist
and the other cut her knee, local police said, stirring a debate in Britain
Friday about old age and driving.
“We are aware of the public interest in this case, however, as with any
other investigation it would be inappropriate to speculate on the causes of
the collision until an investigation is carried out,” a police statement
said.
Images published by the British media showed a dark Land Rover on its side
by the curb, driver’s side down, its windscreen smashed, glass and metal
debris scattered across a road running by a leafy park.
“I was driving home and I saw a car, a black (Land) Rover come out from a
side road and it rolled,” witness Roy Warne told BBC Radio on Friday.
The Land Rover “was turning on its side over and over,” he told The Sun
newspaper in a separate interview.
He said one of the two women in the Kia “was the mother of the child and
she was quite upset”.
Philip and the other driver were given breath tests, which is standard
police procedure. No alcohol was detected.
The accident made the headlines in most British papers.
“MY LEGS! MY LEGS!” The Sun splashed on its front page — the words Prince
Philip reportedly “yelled” as he was pulled from the wreckage.
“I was blinded by the sun,” the paper quoted him as saying.
– Love for speed –
Philip, known for his forthright manner and off-colour jokes, retired from
public life in 2017 and underwent a hip replacement operation last April.
Tall, slim and built like a retired serviceman, the former navy officer
spends most of his time driving, gardening and enjoying family life at royal
estates, according to Buckingham Palace.
He was last seen in public with the queen at Princess Eugenie’s wedding in
October.
But he missed the royal family’s annual Christmas Day church service.
Known as the Duke of Edinburgh in Britain, Philip is also well-known for
his love for speed.
The royal family website says the duke “learned to fly all type of
aircraft”, passing a Royal Air Force test in 1953.
In 2016, alongside the queen, he drove former US President Barack Obama
and his wife Michelle around Windsor Castle after they landed nearby in the
presidential helicopter.
– ‘Age old debate’ –
The accident stirred up what The Sun described as Britain’s “age-old
debate” about whether and when the elderly should give up driving.
The issue is especially sensitive in the case of the royals, with the
Daily Mail noting: “There’s only one person who can tell him to stop driving.
But will she dare?”
Official figures from November show 3,136 people in Great Britain aged 97
and over still hold driving licences.
The oldest were four people aged 107.
In Britain, licences expire when a person turns 70 and have to be renewed
through a simple self-assessment test every three years.
The Daily Mail asked whether the duke would now “sacrifice one of his last
indulgences”.
The BBC’s Jonny Dymond suggested that he might.
“It might be that the duke is about to be persuaded to give up the wheel.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/1122 hrs