Queen Elizabeth ‘Broke The Law,’ An Onlooker Reports To Police

An eagle-eyed citizen reportedly caught Queen Elizabeth II not wearing her seatbelt and promptly called 999, the UK’s emergency-only service. The Queen was en route to Westminster with Prince Charles to attend the formal start of the Parliamentary year when the West Yorkshire Police received the call.

According to Mashable, the onlooker thought he’d report the “incident” to the police since the Queen was not strapped in. Perhaps the snitch thought it is not becoming of a Queen to break the law. The phone call was confirmed by the West Yorkshire force, who even tweeted about the incident.

“999 call received reporting that the Queen isn’t wearing a seatbelt,” the WYP Contact Centre tweeted putting hashtags #not999 #notevenwestyorkshire.

However, the citizen who reported the incident seem to have not known that under the law of the land, civil and criminal proceedings cannot be taken against the Queen. A non-Royal, on the other hand, will be fined £500 ($636) if caught without the seatbelt on.

According to U.K.’s law on seatbelts, the government website says, “You must wear a seat belt if one is fitted in the seat you are using.”

Tom Donohoe of West Yorkshire Police told BBC News that too often, 999 calls were made for non-emergencies.

999 call received reporting that the Queen isn't wearing a seatbelt. #not999 #notevenwestyorkshire

— WYP Contact Management Centre (@WYP_Contact) June 21, 2017

“I cannot stress enough that the 999 number is for emergencies only,” he said revealing that they typically receive more than 1,000 emergency calls a day.

Some examples of the outrageous calls that have taken up police time were a fly in the bedroom and a mouse on the loose.

While the Queen’s press office said that it would not comment on the tweet, the Royal Family website says that “the Queen is careful to ensure that all her activities in her personal capacity are carried out in accordance with the law.”

Meanwhile, the Queen had announced the government’s legislative program for the next two years during Wednesday’s speech, including a host of proposed new laws to prepare the nation for a “smooth and orderly” departure from the EU.

However, there was no mention of Donald Trump’s state visit anywhere in the Queen’s speech. It can be recalled that British Prime Minister Theresa May had announced the U.S. president’s state visit shortly after his inauguration. This resulted in protests, and more than 1.8 million people have signed a petition to cancel Trump’s trip for fear that it would “cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen.”

But a Downing Street spokesperson said that there was “no change” to the planned visit, and that it was not mentioned in the speech because the date has not been decided yet.

[Featured Image by Stefan Wermuth/Getty Images]