Britain's Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, is not to be charged with any offence in connection with a crash involving a car he was driving last month, the UK's Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said on Thursday.
The 97-year-old prince had voluntarily surrendered his driving licence on Saturday after his Land Rover Freelander collided with another vehicle near the Queen's Sandringham estate in Norfolk last month.
"We took into account all of the circumstances in this case, including the level of culpability, the age of the driver and the surrender of the driving licence," said Chris Long, Chief Crown Prosecutor from CPS East of England.
"We have decided that it would not be in the public interest to prosecute. All those involved in the collision have been informed and provided with a full explanation in writing," he said.
The CPS said the decision was made after considering all the evidence submitted by the police and in accordance with its codes.
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"The CPS assessment of any case is not in any sense a finding of, or implication of, any guilt or criminal conduct. It is not a finding of fact, which can only be made by a court, but rather an assessment of what it might be possible to prove to a court, in accordance with the Code for Crown Prosecutors, a CPS statement noted.
Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, escaped injury after his vehicle landed on its side following the collision with a Hyundai Kia on January 17. Two days later Norfolk Police said they had given him "suitable words of advice" after he was spotted driving without a seatbelt.
The 28-year-old driver of the Kia suffered cuts to her knee while the passenger, a 46-year-old woman, broke her wrist. Both required hospital treatment but a nine-month-old baby boy was uninjured.
Days later, Philip wrote to apologise to one of the passengers in the Kia Emma Fairweather, who broke her wrist.
"I would like you to know how very sorry I am for my part in the accident," he wrote.
"The sun was shining low over the main road. In normal conditions I would have no difficulty in seeing traffic coming... but I can only imagine that I failed to see the car coming, and I am very contrite about the consequences."
Philip is known to love driving and famously drove the Obamas when the then US President and First Lady visited Windsor Castle in 2016. But in the wake of the recent incidents, Buckingham Palace had announced the royal's plans to stop driving.
"After careful consideration, the Duke of Edinburgh has taken the decision to voluntarily surrender his driving licence," the palace said in a statement last week.
It was expected that the licence surrender would have an impact on any charges being brought against him for the collision last month.
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