Above the law?

I was reading my National Trust magazine yesterday which ran an article about the preservation of the site at Runnymede where the Magna Carta was signed. That document, the article stated, enshrined into law the maxim that even the king was not above the law. 800 years on, however, that no longer appears to be the case.

When Prince Philip came out of a junction over the weekend and T-boned another car, causing one of the occupants to break their wrist, he committed an act which I would have thought constituted careless driving. After all, causing injury to another driver through an act of carelessness, should, I would have thought, be an offence. The police say they have “spoken” to HRH. What did they say? “Perhaps his Highness should be a little more careful in future”? In other words, the sort of thing my father used to say to me when I dropped a cup on the floor. Did they say they were reporting him to the DVLA to have them insist he takes a specially monitored driving test? They did that to my Mum when she started to show signs of dementia. She failed the test miserably, and her licence was taken away. That test isn’t easy. It lasts over 2 hours, and constitutes both written and practical components, the latter involving driving on a variety of different roads, from country lanes to motorways. Would Phil the Greek passs such a test? We don’t know, and we’re not going to find out. The police ain’t gonna do Jack, that much we do know.

 He never wears his seatbelt either, apparently, and neither does his wife. I wonder how all the thousands of drivers who get fined every year for not wearing theirs feel about that? Why does the sovereign and her consort get a free pass on such a thing? It’s been known for over 40 years that wearing the damn things saves lives, which is why the public are duly encouraged to use them by punishing them if they don’t.

More lowly members of the royal family have been done for speeding and other driving offences in the past. The queen and her husband, however, appear to be above the law. Mind you, I wouldn’t like to be the cop who found him or herself pulling them over and issuing them a ticket. But they should. Remember the Magna Carta, people.