Five months away from his 98th birthday, Prince Philip walked away from a two-car accident Thursday as he pulled out of the driveway of one of the royal estates.
Eyewitnesses said they helped the Duke – who's married to Queen Elizabeth – out of the vehicle and that he was conscious but reportedly "very, very shocked and shaken," as BBC News reported.
By all accounts, he was not injured, but two people in the other vehicle were treated for minor injuries. A doctor reportedly examined Prince Philip, who returned to Sandringham Estate, near where the accident happened. The couple have been staying there since the holidays.
The Guardian reported the palace would not confirm if he was alone in the vehicle at the time of the collision, but a Buckingham Palace statement read:
"The Duke of Edinburgh was involved in a road traffic accident with another vehicle this afternoon. The duke was not injured. The accident took place close to the Sandringham estate. Local police attended the scene."
Reportedly, the accident occurred as Prince Philip drove a Range Rover out of the driveway at about 3 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time in Great Britain – or 10 a.m. EST – near the village of Babingley.
Several witnesses said the road was not closed, but many confirmed that much activity surrounding the crash scene. It is unclear how the two vehicles crashed, but it appeared to one witness that the Range Rover was tipped.
"The Range Rover was on its side on a private road," long-time Babingley resident Nick Cobb told BBC News. "The other car was well into the hedge on the opposite side of the road.
"There was lots of debris in the road, lots of glass and lots of other cars, some police cars, some from the Sandringham Estate and about six ordinary looking cars that looked as though they had stopped to help."
Cobb and his teenage daughter were driving past when they saw the accident about 100 yards from their home.
"We only found out that it was the duke's car when we saw it on the news. The road was not blocked by the crash and was open when we came past."
An unidentified witness reported a heavy police presence, flashing lights, much glass and other debris on the road and several other vehicles that probably stopped to help in the area soon after the accident.
"I was just going down the A149 … and saw a lot of blue flashing lights ahead," said the witness. "I saw a black, four-by-four type car on its side and me and my son were like 'oh my word, that doesn't look good'.
"Obviously it looked quite smashed in," she added. "I'm quite amazed he (the duke) is okay actually.
The British media has already speculated about why a man of 97 still drives, but royal family biographer Hugo Vickers told BBC News that Prince Philip can be sensible if he realizes it's time to give up the wheel.
"Some years ago he gave up flying planes long before he needed to because he was scared that if something happened there would be a lot of criticism," said Vickers.
After all, Prince Philip manned the wheel when escorting former President Barack Obama and former First Lady Michelle Obama around Windsor when they visited back in 2016.
Prince Philip officially retired in 2017.
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