Here are some photos of the Duchess of Edinburgh in Surrey on Friday. She did an event with her patronage, Girlguiding, and it was all about encouraging girls and young women to enter into STEM fields. Meanwhile, there’s some interesting news about a horrible situation from 2023. Just after King Charles’s coronation, Sophie was traveling in a multi-vehicle police motorcade, and the royal protection officers were apparently speeding and being reckless. One of the speeding police cars struck an 81-year-old woman named Helen Holland. Holland was hospitalized and in a coma for two weeks, and then she passed away. While the Holland family was outraged by what happened, they made a point of saying that they didn’t blame Sophie. It did make people wonder why Sophie needs a multi-car motorcade to simply go to a garden party or whatever. Well, in any case, a police officer has been charged in Holland’s death.
A Metropolitan Police officer has been charged over the death of a woman who was hit by a motorcycle escorting the Duchess of Edinburgh through London. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said it had authorised a charge of causing death by careless driving against 67-year-old Christopher Harrison.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 6 November.
Helen Holland, 81, suffered serious injuries in the collision in Earl’s Court on 10 May. She died in hospital two weeks later.
In a statement released at the time, Sophie, the Duchess of Edinburgh, said her “heartfelt thoughts and prayers” were with Ms Holland and her family. Ms Holland, a mother-of-four who was also a grandmother-of-10 and great grandmother-of-seven, was struck at the junction of West Cromwell Road and Warwick Road. The CPS said the charge against Harrison was authorised following a review of the evidence by the Independent Office for Police Conduct.
From the descriptions of the road and the circumstances, the accident made no sense unless the police driver made zero attempt to slow down or show caution in a pedestrian-heavy area. So, I can understand why Christopher Harrison is being charged with a crime. I wonder if they did a larger investigation into why Sophie needs that many RPOs and why they believed they needed to speed in the middle of the day, carrying out non-urgent business.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh, patron of GirlGuiding, joins Guides during a visit to the Brooklands Motor Museum in Surrey, for planned contact with the International Space Station, to promote the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in STEM Featuring: Sophie, Duchess Of Edinburgh Where: Surrey, United Kingdom When: 05 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh, patron of GirlGuiding, joins Guides during a visit to the Brooklands Motor Museum in Surrey, for planned contact with the International Space Station, to promote the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in STEM Featuring: Sophie, Duchess Of Edinburgh Where: Surrey, United Kingdom When: 05 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- The Duchess of Edinburgh, patron of GirlGuiding, joins Guides during a visit to the Brooklands Motor Museum in Surrey, for planned contact with the International Space Station, to promote the engagement and involvement of girls and young women in STEM Featuring: Sophie, Duchess Of Edinburgh Where: Surrey, United Kingdom When: 05 Oct 2024 Credit: PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
Do we know if Sophie was even working when she had that level of police protection?
The fact that anyone can think her risk level is higher than Harry and Meghan’s (ie that RAVEC assessed objectively) is crazy
Well, given that they are doing more work on behalf of the King I expect that their security has been upgraded to match the new workload they have – we can’t expect the Wails to do more than they already do.
I believe she was not. That being said: working royals, or royals higher up the hierarchy, do have 24/7 protection. I just don’t see why she needed a motorcade. Harry didn’t travel with one outside of royal duties.
According to the Court Circular her sole engagement was an early evening thing in Windsor. No official reason for her having to speed through London around lunchtime.
I’m glad that Helen Holland’s family has gotten justice for her death from the Metropolitan police, and I hope it helps them a bit. A preventable accident is a terrible way to lose your grand/mother! The fact that Sophie has this huge, fast moving entourage still hasn’t been addressed? Nor has the fact that her garden party was not listed as work so no one knew what was going on last year.
Last question: why is a 67-year-old speeding on a motorcycle for the police? I can’t imagine that this guy has perfect hearing, eyesight or reflexes.
Seriously, once we got to his age…there is absolutely no excuse for a 67 year old to be part of a security motorcade, never mind the motorcycle. It’s outrageous!
Oh boy. Lots of ageism here. I was still employed full time at 67. My eyesight, hearing and reflexes were just fine. I could work rings around those much younger. I was well paid for my leadership, decisions and experience. I travelled, rented cars and navigated solo through large cities without GPS. Never had an accident.
This guy’s job is seeing to the safety of a royal in a way that keeps the public safe. Clearly, this 67-year-old was not fit for the job, since he mowed down an elderly woman he was unable to avoid. Motorcycles are much easier to stop (less braking distance) and also more agile in traffic, than say, a car. I think it’s absolutely fair to assess this man’s hearing, eyesight and reflexes, especially since he caused a deadly accident!
67 is usually retirement age, and there is no shame nor ageism in pointing out that if this gentleman is less fit than he should be for his job, than he should never have been there.
Agreed. Obviously I don’t have all the facts of this case, but immediately saying that he shouldn’t be driving is ageist. I am a hospice social worker and one of our best nurses is 66. He goes on days long hikes through the mountains on his spare time and might be in better shape than I am at 41. Could someone have eyesight and reflex issues at 67? Absolutely! I see people all the time in their 60s that shouldn’t be driving. However, saying that no one that age can be a part of a security motorcade is shortsighted and ageist. Jimmy Carter and his spouse were helping build houses into their 90s.
Does an attitude of entitlement spread to RPOs?
Yeah, good question! It’s possible that the attitude of entitlement could rub off on anyone, especially anyone “protecting” a royal, who are the definition of entitled!
I often see motorcades (with police outriders) when I’m in central London (not just for royals) and yeah they do go along at high speeds – this isn’t the first time one of the royal motorcades has hit a pedestrian (the Wails hit someone while they were speeding down to an event at Windsor that they were already late to).
I don’t know the details of what happened but if he’s being charged it means that they’ve found he was driving recklessly. These guys are trained to drive that way (I mean in these types of motorcades not to drive recklessly).
My low stakes conspiracy theory is that it was actually William’s motorcade, but they obviously didn’t want that public so Sophie went under the bus and that’s why she got to do an event with him shortly after this happened.
Yeah, she did an event with him right after this incident. The palace was used to throwing Harry under the bus to protect Will. I also believe, this was Will’s motorcade and since Harry was no longer there, they threw a married-in under the bus to protect the heir and promised her the protection from the media. There was no negative narrative in the media about Sophie for this incident.
I wouldn’t find it hard to believe it was someone else’s motorcade.
It was not. I’m no fan of his, but this has happened with him and Kate before, and it was reported in the news. This was Sophie’s motorcade.
Because it’s happened before is one of the reasons I think they wouldn’t want to show it happening again.
Again, low stakes conspiracy, not spending much time on it, but it was a weird story and coverage at the time, enough to make you wonder.
@Proud Mary, but was it before Kate & Will got sainted by the british media? There were negative articles written about K&W before Meghan. After Meghan and the invisible agreement between palace & media, everything changed. The palace is more protective about the rep of K&W now. Otherwise, why did Will show obvious support to Sophie right after the accident? He wouldn’t do things like that if he wasn’t getting something in return.
It’s probably also why Edward finally became Duke of Edinburgh: wasn’t Sophie still a countess at the time? Leverage?
Just goes to show how much the stenographers in the royal rota lie. They swore that Edward and Sophie only had protection officers when they were on official duty, which this clearly was not – whoever it was.
What if it wasn’t Sophie but one of William’s “special friends”?
At 67, he shouldn’t still be a motorcycle escort. And as I remember Sophie wasn’t on royal duty so why was her motorcade traveling at high speed? Plus there’s no way she should have the same level of security as the more senior royals.
Why does Sophie need a motorcade
“It did make people wonder why Sophie needs a multi-car motorcade to simply go to a garden party or whatever.” Yeah, why? You know they would be accusing Meghan of murder if this was her motorcade.
Why would a 67 year old be driving in a motorcade? That in and of itself is bizarre. Something else is going on here. Charles and Willy are cheap and greedy. They wouldn’t pay for the best of the best protection for a married in, no matter how many events she does and how throughly she kisses their entitled asses. This sounds like Sophie is getting thrown to the wolves to cover for Keen/Camilla/Will-not or Charles. If a fix wasn’t on somehow Sophie woulf be fed to the wolves over this.
The question should be will Sophie be required to testify in court as a eye witness? I can’t believe they didn’t get a witness statement from her. The outrider was wrong and has to answer for it; but he is a convenient sacrificial lamb.
Kind of ironic how Charles makes a point of refusing police protection for the Sussexes when they are in the UK but others like Sophie get multi-vehicles police motorcade to go to garden parties and other stupid events that are not work.
Yeah, good question! It’s possible that the attitude of entitlement could rub off on anyone, especially anyone “protecting” a royal, who are the definition of entitled!
The entire motorcade logistics need to be reexamined.
The motorcycle drivers are required to drive while constantly looking back at the car containing the principle to make sure it is safe.
Driving while looking backwards is NOT SAFE
If i were that driver I would put the blame where it belongs on the police motorcade procedures.