As any parent will know, the first few years of raising children involve constantly saving their lives.
We have to watch them with vigilance and act quickly every time they hurtle towards danger.
We stop them from falling, choking, running out on roads and playing with fire.
We block their access to harmful substances, moving machinery and sharp objects.
We shield them from unfriendly animals; we even stop them from hurting each other (think siblings at war).
Grandparents do the same.
And now a GIF that has been shared on Twitter is circulating, showing the Queen taking quick action to prevent a four-year-old Prince William from almost certainly having a nasty accident.
In the footage the Queen can be seen chasing after Prince William at the 1986 wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson. As the newlyweds ride away in a horse-drawn carriage Prince William and other children in the bridal party take chase, in hot pursuit of those tantalisingly enormous wheels.
Not missing a beat, the Queen breaks into a run and with her pearls swinging wildly and her fascinator bouncing, quickly reaches out to grab the hand of her grandson before any harm can come to him.
Also in hot pursuit you can see Princess Margaret in blue.
Once the Queen has her grandson’s hand, she doesn’t let it go.
The Duke and Duchess of York were blissfully unaware of the danger that was unfolding behind them.
And while a now 37-year-old Prince William towers above his grandmother today, he can probably thank the monarch for her vigilance and quick thinking; it almost certainly saved him from harm.
Thankfully, the closest we’ve seen to anything like that happening with the future king’s children is Princess Charlotte taking a tumble on the stairs at the wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brookbank in October, 2018.
The incident was so minor the little princess was able to get up on her own.
And it’s probably just as well because, at 93, the Queen would, respectfully, be less nimble-footed.
