ACCIDENT TO THE PRINCE OF WALES.
While taking a jump during an exercise gallop on one of his hunters yesterday morning, the Prince of Wales was thrown. He fell on one shoulder, and the collar-bone was fractured. The accident took place on the steeplechase course at Billington Manor, Bedfordshire. His Royal Highness got up after the fall without assistance, but it was soon he realised that something worse than bruising had resulted from the mishap, and medical aid was at once procured at Leighton Buzzard.
Shortly afterwards the Prince returned to London by train. On arrival he was seen by Mr. Frank Romer, consulting surgeon to the Jockey Club, and later by Sir F. S. Hewett, surgeon apothecary to the King.
The following bulletin was issued from York House, St. James’s Palace, in the afternoon:
His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales had a fall while riding this morning, and fractured his collar-bone. There are no complications, and his Royal Highness is making satisfactory progress. – (Signed) STANLEY HEWETT.
The Prince was visited in the course of the afternoon by the King and Queen, to whom news of the accident had been conveyed by telephone. There were many anxious inquiries from all parts of the country, and numerous callers at York House signed the visitors’ book. President Millerand and M. Poincaré have instructed the French Ambassador in Loudon to keep them informed as to the progress of the Prince.
Mr. Romer stated to an interviewer: “The Prince is going on perfectly all right. He was in a good deal of pain, which was only natural, but he stood everything quite well. He will get along all right, and everything is going on straightforwardly.”
THE MISHAP.
Intending to take part in the coming engagement of the Whaddon Chase Hunt, and with the immediate object of attending. the meet at Ascott (Bucks) to-day, the Prince of Wales recently transferred a number of his hunters to Leighton Buzzard. His Royal Highness himself arrived at Cheddington on Thursday night from London by train, and was the guest of Lord Dalmeny at Mentmore Towers. Early this morning, prior to the meet at Mrs. Leopold de Rothschild’s, the Prince, accompanied by his equerry, Major Metcalfe, and Major Leigh Stedall, of Billington Manor House, went to Billington steeplechase course with the object of schooling one or two comparatively new hunters. The Prince, after putting three or four horses over the fences, mounted an Irish hunter, a fairsized chestnut purchased at Christmas, and had taken most of the jumps on this mount in excellent style, when at one of the last fences close to Billington Manor House the animal brushed the obstruction with his forefeet and fell heavily. The Prince, who was thrown clear and to the left of his mount, rose in a second and appeared to be none the worse. With characteristic pluckiness he intimated
his intention of remounting. “I’m all right,” he said to his two companions, who had preceded him over the fence. Major Metcalfe, however, observing that the Prince was looking pale, dissuaded him from remounting, and his Royal Highness walked back to Billington Manor House, a distance of a few hundred yards.
As his Royal Highness was then experiencing some stiffness, it was thought best that he should be examined by a doctor. The Prince, therefore, went by his oar to the surgery of Dr. W. H. Square, in Leighton Buzzard. Dr. Square, who was himself preparing to take part in the meet at Ascott, examined the Prince and found that he had slightly fractured his collarbone. After strapping up the shoulder the doctor recommended the Prince to return to London. This his Royal Highness did, driving in his car to Cheddington, and thence catching the 10.20 a.m. train to Euston.
The members of the hunt were very concerned when they heard of the accident, but the utmost gratification was felt when it became known that it was only slight. In the ordinary way the Prince should be recovered in ten days’ time. The only explanation of the mishap appears to be that the Prince’s mount, a comparatively untried mare, tired at the fifteenth or sixteenth jump, which is not one of the best bits of taking-off ground on the course, and came down with a heaviness that no rider could possibly have overcome.
The time of the accident was about 8.30 a.m., and as soon as it became known many individuals gathered in the vicinity of Dr. Square’s surgery. It was noticed that as the Prince left he was wearing a tweed cap and jacket and riding breeches, his Royal Highness not having changed into hunting attire when the accident happened. The Prince’s collar had been removed, and he was rather pale. Otherwise, he was as cheerful as ever, and smilingly returned the salutes and cheers of the onlookers as he stepped into his motorcar and drove off to Cheddington Station.
Dr. Square, having diagnosed the character of the Prince’s injuries, bandaged the shoulder and left arm, which had to be placed in a sling. His Royal Highness was himself inclined to remain at Leighton Buzzard, of which he is very fond, and where he enjoys a privacy that affords him a rare relief from official duties. Eighteen of the Prince’s hunters are stabled at the Hunt Hotel, a comfortable hostelry of the old English type much beloved by hunting people. Dr. Square advised the Prince’s return to town, and as the journey by car, although only forty miles, might possibly have involved road delays, it was decided to ’phone to Cheddington Station to hold up, if necessary, the 10.20 a.m. train.
The train had just got into the station when the Prince arrived. His Royal Highness, who is well known at Cheddington (the station for Mentmore), was here recognised by villagers and by railway passengers, and the utmost concern was expressed at seeing him with a bandaged shoulder. The Prince, while walking to a first-class apartment, assured the stationmaster that his injury was only slight, and this information was conveyed to the onlookers.