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Following her husband the Duke of Edinburgh’s car crash earlier this year, it’s been reported that the Queen will quit driving on public roads following the advice of her security team.
According to The Sunday Times the Queen, who turns 93 in a few weeks’ time, has agreed to be chauffeured on all public roads from now on.
While it’s protocol for the Queen to be driven to all public engagements, she’s been known to love to get behind the wheel to travel to private events, so it’s likely to have been a reluctant decision.
It’s understood she’ll continue to drive herself around her private estates.
The Queen visiting King’s College in late March with Duchess Catherine. It was Kate’s first solo appearance with the Queen since marrying into the royal family in 2011. (Image: Getty)
Queen Elizabeth is the only person in the UK allowed to drive without a licence and number plate, as part of her discretionary powers as a monarch, so has never sat a driving test.
The Queen, whose car collection includes Land Rovers, Range Rovers, Bentleys and Jaguars and is thought to be worth more than NZD$18 million, began driving at the age of 18, where she trained as a driver and mechanic for the Woman’s Auxiliary Territorial Service during World War II.
However it seems not everyone has been a fan of the Queen’s driving.
Queen Elizabeth driving Princess Anne and Prince Charles at Windsor in 1957. (Image: Getty)
During a visit, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was said to have been surprised and then worried when the Queen drove him around her estate, the Daily Mail reports.
An anecdote published by the former ambassador for Saudi Arabia, Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles said: “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…
“His nervousness only increased as the Queen, an army driver in wartime, accelerated the Land Rover along the narrow Scottish estate roads, talking all the time,” the ambassador continued.
“Through his interpreter, the Crown Prince implored the Queen to slow down and concentrate on the road ahead.”
Prince Philip driving former US President Barrack Obama and his wife Michelle along with the Queen during a visit to their estate. (Image: Getty)
Buckingham Palace is yet to confirm the reports, but the move would follow a similar step made by Prince Philip, who in February voluntarily surrendered his driver’s licence following a car crash where his Land Rover collided with a Kia and left two women hospitalised.
