Prince Philip's Bush Fall

4 months ago 14th Jul 14:00

Britain's Prince Philip fell over a bush while carriage driving.

The horse-loving husband of Queen Elizabeth no longer competes in the sport, but still indulges his passion driving around his Windsor Castle estate, and despite the occasional tumble, insists it is not dangerous.

He said: "If you're playing billiards you can stick a cue in your eye. There's a bit of luck in it but it's not all that serious.

"I had a stupid accident here for instance - I was going into the water obstacle and there was a post and rails and they had cut a bush down but they'd left a stump sticking out and the wheel went over it.

If you're playing billiards you can stick a cue in your eye. There's a bit of luck in it but it's not all that serious.

"I got pitched out completely over the top and I ended up lying on my back on the floor with the carriage on one side and one of the horses hooves beside me. But that's sheer bad luck. You can't blame anybody for that."

The 88-year-old prince gave up competing professionally in 1994 and admits he was relieved to no longer have to learn the obstacles as it was becoming trickier with his advancing years.

He said: "There are eight of them and up to six gates and my memory is not up to that anymore and my legs aren't up to that. They go round for hours!"

The prince also spoke to 'All The Queen's Horses' host Alan Titchmarsh about how he first fell in love with the sport.

He said: "I gave up polo when I was 50 - and then this started and I thought, 'Well, you've got horses and carriages, why don't I have a go?' So I started in 1973 and it's been going on since then. These were carriage horses from London - they'd never been through anything bigger than a puddle. I made a little crossing - a stream, and had to bribe them across. I sent my groom across the other side with a jar of sugar - and they decided to get their feet wet!"