For the second time this year, an older member of the British royal family has been involved in a car crash that was allegedly caused by the royal’s negligence, according to observers.
The Daily Mail says that on June 2, the Duke of Kent, 83, was involved in a crash where a car avoiding the duke’s Jaguar smashed into a divider at 60 mph on the A27 near Brighton, England.
Queen Elizabeth’s cousin the Duke of Kent, best known as Prince Edward, was driving a Jaguar which is listed as a vehicle belonging to Buckingham Palace when he reportedly pulled out in front of Olivia Fellows’ Mini. Fellows, a neuroscience student at the University of Sussex, was left “badly shaken” after what she calls a “terrifying ordeal” which left her unhurt, but her car totaled. She says she was forced to slam on her breaks when the Duke of Kent’s car pulled out in front of her car, forcing her into the divider.
“I was driving north at 60 mph and suddenly this Jaguar pulled out in front of me. I saw the Jag to my left and it looked like he was going to go, then hesitated and changed his mind and went to go again. He shot across the road. But it was so close that if I hadn’t emergency braked I would have gone straight into the middle of his car.”
Duke of Kent, 83, caught up in car crash just months after Philip rolled his Land Rover: Royal faces police probe after his Jaguar is blamed for ‘terrified’ Mini-driving student’s 60mph smash https://t.co/tl0ZLslF0c
— Sofia Rita Belmonte (@Srb1970Rita) June 15, 2019
Fellows says that the airbags deployed and smoke was coming out of the engine as witnesses pulled over to help.
“Two women who were behind his car came running over screaming ‘oh my god, oh my god, are you ok?”
She explains that her arm had been twisted by the force of the airbag, and she kept telling herself that the car would be able to be repaired. The women gave the police the tag information and the make and model of the car, and a description of the driver. After it was determined that the car belonged to Buckingham Palace, things seemed to get more complicated as the police took calls about the identity of the car and the driver.
Fellows, who is a full-time student and a part-time checkout person at Tesco says she is “heartbroken” to be without her car and has not received any contact from either the Duke of Kent or Buckingham Palace. She says the car has to be written off, leaving her upset.
“I haven’t got that now and I feel quite low about it. I haven’t received an apology.”
