Hero who rescued Prince Philip after car crash: 'I had the Prince's blood on my hands'

On Thursday afternoon, Prince Philip was involved in a car accident that involved one other car. Images showed the Royal’s Land Rover overturned on the side of the road near Sandringham Estate in eastern England.

The person who pulled Philip to safety was in awe of having the prince’s blood on his hands. Nobody was fatally injured in the accident.

This week, Prince Philip, 97, was involved in a car accident that left him trapped in his overturned Land Rover. His vehicle had collided with a blue Kia carrying two women and a 10-month-old baby.

The accident that occurred near Sandringham Estate happened when the Royal was pulling out of a T-junction onto the main road. Roy Warne, 75, was the lawyer that rescued Philip from the overturned vehicle.

Warne said, "I saw the car flip and thought [expletive] hell." He added, "I looked down and had the Prince's blood on my hands. All I could think is, thank goodness there wasn't more."

The witness saw the prince’s car flip over just a split second after the collision. At the time, he was driving home with his wife Victoria just before 3 p.m.

The lawyer explained, "Before I even stopped I said to Victoria, dial 999.” He said Philip shouted "my legs!" as he was pulled out of the Land Rover.

Warne shared that he put his hands under Philip’s armpits to ease him out of the overturned vehicle while he was "disorientated and humbled.” Explaining the accident, the lawyer said the prince’s car "came across the A149 like a somersault. It was turning on its side over and over... It was frightening."

Warne’s attention was initially drawn by a baby's screams. However, once he and another man had safely extracted the baby in the other vehicle, he turned to the elderly man in the Land Rover.

The lawyer recalled how the prince was lying in his car:

“He was lying on his side and his legs were down in the well of the car. I asked him to lift his left leg as his legs were trapped, and he said, ‘Where to?’”

One of the women in the other vehicle suffered a broken arm the other one had an injured knee and the baby boy was unharmed. The prince and the other driver both passed breath tests administered on them.

Buckingham Palace released a statement on the day that read:

"The Duke of Edinburgh was involved in a road traffic accident with another vehicle this afternoon. The Duke was not injured. The accident took place close to the Sandringham Estate."

The prince was shaken by the incident but wasn’t physically hurt. The Norfolk police said, "We can confirm both casualties have been treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn and have since been discharged.”

Dr. Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine shared his thoughts on the incident saying: "They will have to keep an eye on him overnight because the risk for this will be over the next 24 to 48 hours. This is not a minor event for a 97-year-old."

Philip saw a doctor at the Sandringham Estate and it was decided he didn’t require treatment at the hospital. However, it was revealed that he could suffer delayed symptoms from the crash because of his age.

Royal historian Kate Williams said if the incident ended Philip's ability to drive, it would be devastating for him. She stated:

"He really loves driving and takes great pleasure in it and were he not allowed to drive he would find that quite painful."

When the accident occurred, Warne was driving his wife from a hospital appointment in King’s Lynn. She had just been diagnosed as cancer-free from breast cancer.

The lawyer stated that: “It’s certainly a day we will remember.”