It would mean the world to me if Philip said sorry...
THE VICTIM of Prince Philip’s horror car crash yesterday claimed the 97-year-old Royal’s actions might have killed her.
Emma Fairweather, speaking for the first time, said it was thanks to her friend’s careful driving that everyone survived, saying: “If she wasn’t going at the speed limit, who knows what would have happened? Could someone have died?”
Emma, 46, was travelling with an unnamed friend and the friend’s ninemonth-old baby on the A149 in Babingley, Norfolk, when their Kia hit the Duke of Edinburgh’s Land Rover when he pulled out into a main road on Thursday.
She told yesterday how she screamed, “Where’s the baby?” moments after the crash.
The mother-of-two, from King’s Lynn, Norfolk, also revealed that no one from the Royal Family has tried to contact her to apologise, despite Buckingham Palace saying on Friday that contact had been made “privately” with the people in the other car “and well wishes exchanged”.
Yesterday, the Duke was seen back behind the wheel alone and reportedly without a seatbelt.
But Emma said: “I still haven’t had any contact from the Royal household. Maybe he should prioritise that over test driving his new car.
“I love the Royals but I feel ignored and rejected and I’m in a lot of pain.
“It would mean the world to me if Prince Philip said sorry but I have no idea if he’s sorry at all.
“What would it have taken for him and the Queen to send me a card and a bunch of flowers?”
She has now questioned whether the Duke, who was left bloodied and shaken by the crash, should be allowed to continue driving, and is considering a personal injury claim.
Emma will spend her 46th birthday today on painkillers and with her arm in a cast after being left with a broken wrist after the Duke’s 4x4 ploughed into the Kia that Emma was travelling in, flipping his car just outside the Sandringham estate.
Emma said: “We could see
HORROR: From left...aftermath of the crash; Emma wipes away a tear; Prince back behind wheel yesterday
the Land Rover about 150 yards away from us at a junction, then it started to move.
“The speed limit was 60mph but my friend was doing no more than 50mph. I kept thinking he was going to stop but he didn’t.
“Everything happened in slow motion. It must have been seconds, but it felt like half a lifetime.”
Emma had no idea the Duke of Edinburgh was in the other car, and her first thought was for her friend’s baby.
She said: “I don’t think I realised my side of the car hadn’t taken most of the impact.
“A man opened the door and I screamed that there was a baby in the back that needed to get out first.
“But then everyone went over to the other car and I was panicking that they were going to forget about me.
“I’d never broken a bone before but I knew my wrist was broken.”
Emma was eventually helped from
the car by a passerby, before witness Victoria Warne, 72, told her who the driver was.
Mrs Warne’s husband Roy helped the Duke out of the car, who reportedly shouted, “My legs! My legs!” as he was lifted out through the sunroof.
Emma said: “The lady came over and said, ‘You do know who that is don’t you?’
“I thought it was just an elderly gentleman but she said, ‘It’s Prince Philip’.
“I was shocked. confusing emotion. I felt upset and overwhelmed.”
Emma said Philip was breathalysed and treated before leaving the crash scene within 10 minutes, and claims he was advised not to apologise to her in person.
She then faced an agonising wait for an ambulance, before she was finally taken to hospital two hours later.
She said: “I was pacing up and down because the pain was so bad.
“I feel like the impact of what has happened has been minimised because my injuries aren’t as minor as they are being made out to be.
“I kept asking, ‘Why is the pain getting worse?’
“Someone told me Prince Philip had been keen to talk to me but a number of people advised him against it, but I can’t be sure as I was very confused.”
Emma was sent home by medics after a series of X-rays revealed her wrist was fractured.
She requires further tests over the next week to see if she needs surgery.
She has been signed off from her new job as a support worker for care It was a very leavers for two months. Her teenage son is having to help her wash and dress.
She said: “People are talking a lot about Prince Philip’s independence but for the moment I’ve lost my independence.”
And Emma has also claimed the authorities are trying to silence her.
She said rather than a personal message from the Royals, she was contacted by police who reportedly gave her a message from the Queen and Duke that made “no sense”.
She said: “I was advised not to speak to anyone and told to expect a call from the Palace yesterday.
“I know the Queen is a busy lady but I was really excited at the idea she might phone me.
“Instead, I got a call from a police family liaison officer.
“The message he passed on didn’t even make sense. He said, ‘The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh would like to be remembered to you.’
“I thought I’d at least have got a note and maybe some flowers but I’ve heard nothing. The police haven’t given me any emotional support either.”
Emma was the most seriously injured in the crash, with her friend, the 28-year-old Kia driver, suffering cuts to her knee, and the driver’s nine-monthold baby having a miraculous escape in the back seat.
All were treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn on the day of the crash and discharged.
But despite her ordeal, Emma says she’s still hoping the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh will reach out, and says she would forgive Philip if he got in touch.
She said: “He doesn’t need any forgiveness from me but of course I would forgive him. People make mistakes.
“But if he’s broken dangerous driving laws he should face prosecution like anyone else would.”
She also told how she believes the Philip should “reflect” on whether he should ever get behind the wheel again following the dramatic crash.
The Prince, who told a passer-by that he had been blinded by the sun, was yesterday seen driving in the Sandringham estate, near where the accident happened, in a replacement Land Rover Freelander which he collected on Friday. The Duke was reportedly wearing sunglasses.