Connect with us

Queen Elizabeth II to Stop Driving on Public Roads After Prince Philip Crash

Photos: GETTY

Royal Family News

Queen Elizabeth II to Stop Driving on Public Roads After Prince Philip Crash

II, the only person in the UK permitted to drive without a license, has agreed to stop driving on public roads following her husband's car accident.

According to the Sunday Times, the monarch will now be chauffeured.

Although Her Majesty enjoys driving, she has decided to slam the brakes on this activity, which was undoubtedly reached reluctantly.

The Queen has had access to private drivers all her life but has often opted to drive herself.

She has owned a fleet of land rovers, jaguars and range rovers in the past to support British industry.

Most of those who have been in the car while the Queen was behind the wheel appear to have enjoyed being driven by her.

Trending:

However, according to the Sunday Times, the Queen terrorized the then Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in 1998 at a time when women in his country were not allowed to drive.

The former ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Sir Sherrod Cooper-Coles, published the anecdote in his 2012 memoir.

After lunch, the Queen had asked her royal guest whether he would like a tour of the estate.

To his surprise, the Queen climbed into the driving seat, turned the ignition and drove off.

Abdullah was not used to being driven by a woman, let alone a Queen.

Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead.

Michelle Obama also told of how the Queen broke protocol to sit in the back seat of a car with the former First Lady.

Writing in her autobiography, Becoming, Mrs. Obama said, “We were briefed on the protocol ahead of time, we'd greet the royals formally before getting into their vehicle to make the short drive.

I'd sit in the front next to 94-year-old Prince Philip, who would drive, and Barack would sit next to the Queen in the back seat.”

The former First Lady went on to explain how the Queen subverted royal protocol in a rare act of disobedience.

She said, “After we touched down in a field on the palace grounds and said our hellos, however, the Queen abruptly threw a wrench into everything by gesturing for me to join her in the back seat of the Range Rover.

I froze, trying to remember if anyone had prepared me for this scenario, whether it was more polite to go along with it or to insist that Barack take his proper seat by her side.

The Queen immediately picked up on my hesitations and was having none of it.

‘Did they give you some rule about this,' she said, dismissing all the fuss with a wave of her hand.

‘That's rubbish.

Sit wherever you want.'”

Top stories:

More in Royal Family News

To Top