Archive footage about a car crash involving the Duke of Edinburgh in 1964 has emerged, a week after Philip’s serious collision near Sandringham.
The ITN film features an interview with a driver, known only as Mr Cooper, who explains how he was forced to swerve after seeing Philip driving straight at him.
The duke was driving the Queen through the village of Holyport in Berkshire.
Newly uncovered ITN archive emerges of crash involving the Duke of Edinburgh in 1964 https://t.co/BN3QXxHHzW pic.twitter.com/CnulsQxXNM
— ITV News (@itvnews) January 24, 2019
Mr Cooper said, in the black and white footage found by ITV News: “I pulled in at an angle on the road here, and the next thing I see was the duke’s car – well now I know it was the duke – it was coming straight for me.
‘Well, I swerved when I see that he was coming straight at me.
“I pulled over, as you can see the tyre marks, and he swerved and he caught me offside. He pushed me over, right across this road into here.
“The duke got out first and just says, ‘How are you?’ and I said, ‘Well I’ve just grazed my knee, sir’. He said, ‘Oh, that’s good’ and he went back to the Queen.”
Mr Cooper, who was on his provisional driving licence, was shown standing next to his badly damaged vehicle.
A Mrs Clarke, who was in a nearby pub, helped the Queen, who was unharmed, out of the car without realising who she was, and later asked her detective if the royal would “like a cup of tea or maybe something stronger”, but the offer was not taken up.
And this is the reaction from a lady in the Rising Sun pub when she realised it was the Queen in the car which had just crashed outside: “I said, ‘Would the Queen like a cup of tea? Or maybe something stronger?’ ” ?#daysgoneby #1964 pic.twitter.com/XUqRHCxUGg
— Chris Ship (@chrisshipitv) January 24, 2019
Last week, Philip, 97, escaped injury on January 17 after a serious car crash involving a mother and a baby.
The Land Rover Freelander he was driving was hit by another vehicle when he pulled out of a driveway on the Sandringham estate in Norfolk onto a busy A road, after apparently being dazzled by the low sun.
Philip’s car flipped over and he was initially trapped and had to be rescued by a passing motorist.
The other vehicle, a Kia, was carrying a nine-month-old baby boy, his mother who was driving, and another woman Emma Fairweather.
The baby was unhurt, but both women had to be treated in hospital, and passenger Ms Fairweather, who broke her wrist, called for the duke to be prosecuted if found to be at fault.
Philip was spotted driving without a seatbelt 48 hours after the crash.
