I’m not sure what a Duke is and how it fits in to the British Royal hierarchy. One thing I do know is that it’s quite high up. For example, since 1953, Prince Phillip has been the Duke of Edinburgh (DoE). He’s married to the Queen, but he’s not allowed to be King. So, his title is Prince Consort. He’s a king amongst Prince Consorts! I think this is just about correct.

David Bowie was known as the Thin White Duke, but he was rock royalty and was not married to the head of the Church of England, and the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and northern Ireland. Bowie was a mere 61 years of age when he died, and the DoE is 97 years old still, active and still driving. However, his driving days may be over soon.

This afternoon, there was a news report of a traffic accident involving a car and a Range Rover which ended up on it’s side after pulling out from a junction. From the looks of it, his car was hit side on on the passenger side and there have not been any reports about the passenger who would have been there as part of security protocol.

Anyway, saying this was a road traffic accident (RTA) is incorrect, this suggests that no one was at fault. I think the correct term in road traffic collision (RTC) until it has been investigated. There are a few other things that spring to mind:

1. This is worse than crashing in to a police car
2. I so relieved I wasn’t involved in anything like this
3. Range Rovers tip over more easily than I imagined
4. Range Rovers are very safe in a collision powerful enough to knock one on it’s side and allow a 97 year old uninjured
5. The driver who hit his car had better have a bloody good reason for what happened
6. How do you swap insurance details with a senior Royal after a collision?
7. We don’t have the time for a state funeral right now. There’s too much going on
8. Driverless cars wouldn’t have collided like that
9. I wonder how worried people were about his driving and couldn’t get him to stop

There is another thought that came in to my head, and this is for the conspiracists out there. It would have been ironic if the DoE had died in a car crash. But I am pleased that he was injury free after he was helped out of the car. My thoughts are with the security detail who would have been in the passenger seat, but that will have to remain a secret for security reasons.

Long live the Prince Consort! We might never have another one.