The only thing dented is Philip’s pride as a driver

Full marks to Prince Philip.

At 97, he is “voluntarily” giving up his driver’s licence.

His decision comes a month after a collision involving his Land Rover Freelander — which he was driving — and another vehicle, when he was pulling out on to a main road near the royal family’s Sandringham Estate. He was relatively unscathed, two women in the other vehicle had minor injuries and a 9-month-old boy in the other car was unhurt. It was not, as some newspapers have sensationally proclaimed, a “horror smash”! Far from it.

But it still generated discussion in the news and social media platforms and asked the question, is he fit to drive?

Add to that the fact that he was later caught not wearing a seatbelt — which earned him a chat with the local constabulary — and it bodes ill for the Royal Consort and his days on the road.

Many questions were asked at the time, including does he actually have a driver’s licence? Yes he does (or did).

It is the Queen who does not need one because they are issued in her name.

She must have had one at some point because she was driving long before she ascended the throne as she was a driver and mechanic in the Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II. The future Duke Edinburgh spent the corresponding time at sea in the service of the Royal Navy.

There are not many people still fit to drive at age 97, with faculties no longer at their peak and reaction times slowed proportionately. As hard as it must be to relinquish such independence, there comes a time when it is no longer safe to drive a motor vehicle on a public road.

True, Prince Philip is a remarkable man and exceptionally hale for one of his advanced age, but losing his licence (sorry, giving up his licence) is not much of a hardship for a man with plenty of travel alternatives. It’s not as if he has to drag his bicycle out of the garden shed for transport, or use his pensioner perks to get cheap bus fares. He has a car collection and chauffeurs on call. If it comes to the crunch, his wife could take the Morris Minor out of the garage and drive him to the TAB, if that’s what he wants.

So what’s the big deal about him handing in his licence to drive a motor vehicle? It’s because he’s the Duke of Edinburgh, formerly Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, currently Baron Greenwich, Earl of Merioneth, Lord High Admiral of the Royal Navy, Knight Grand Cross (GCVO) of the Royal Victorian Order, husband and consort of Queen Elizabeth II and father of the heir to the throne of Great Britain and the Commonwealth. Up until the world’s media rang with the story of his Land Rover prang most of us had no idea he was still driving, so having a licence was not an issue. Now it is.

As far as we know, Prince Philip has not previously disgraced himself on the road. He has had one accident in which he was at fault. For a younger person that is no reason to hand over their licence and start walking, at least, not for long, but for a 97-year-old Royal Consort it made the news and fired up opinion all around the world, with the general consensus being he should swap the driver’s seat for the bucket seat on the left (or the bench seat in the back). Is that because of his age or was their a lot of anti-royalty feeling expressed in that “debate”? How many Republicans used it as an excuse to vent their opposition to anyone with a title?

Personally, I think it’s right that Prince Philip renounces the privilege to drive on a public road, but only because at the age of 97 I don’t believe it is safe to do so. No doubt there will be anecdotes galore about 107-year-old granny who still drives her Ford Capri at 160kph and is planning her Manfeild racing debut next year. But there are few people still healthy enough, with the eyesight, hearing, cognition and reflexes necessary to cope with today’s roads and busy traffic. Apologies to the odd exception, but a medical event while behind the wheel of a car is not ideal, and at that age the chances of such are high.

The Prince can still drive around the family’s multiple estates unlicensed and he has a stable of vehicles in which to do so. His lack of royal permission to drive on public roads is no hardship to a man of such resources, but isn’t it better that the only thing dented is his pride?