Prince Philip will accept he can no longer drive while 'muttering under his breath', says friend Gyles Brandreth

Prince Philip will begrudgingly accept his days of driving are over after his "miracle escape" from a crash near the Sandringham Estate, his friend and biographer has said.

The Duke of Edinburgh walked from the wreckage of his car on Thursday afternoon on the A149 after his Land Rover collided with a Kia. Witnesses described it as a "miracle" that His Royal Highness managed to escape uninjured.

The Duke of Edinburgh, 97, was left bleeding following the accident which saw his car "tumble" across a road. He had to be helped out of his car before immediately asking whether others were "alright".

Two female passengers of the second car, a Kia, went to hospital with minor injuries, while a baby travelling with them was unharmed.

There will be growing calls for the Duke to surrender his licence, but Gyles Brandreth doesn't think his freind will react "too well" to being told not to get behind the wheel, saying: "But if you can't do it any more, you can't do it any more. He's a pragmatist and a realist and I'm sure he'll accept that while possibly muttering under his breath."

"I think everyone will be telling him that [to stop driving] from his wife to his insurers to the Norfolk Constabulary to almost everyone you can think of, [will be telling him], 'Old boy, it's time to hang up the keys and give yourself a break'," said Mr Brandreth, who wrote the Duke's biography.

"He can afford a chauffeur, after all, and indeed the Queen has several on the payroll.  But knowing him a little, I don't think he's likely to welcome advice to slow down - I mean he's only 97."

Recalling a story told to him about Prince Philip's penchant for speed, he said the Queen was left "yelping" as she was driven by her husband through Cowdray Park in West Sussex.

Mr Brandreth told the BBC's Today programme: "He has been driving - and quite fast - for many years. I have been in the car with him and I have to say he drives really well, but he can drive fast.

"When he was younger he was a dynamo. He did everything fast. He was a dynamo and he could be impatient.

"His cousin Countess Mountbatten told me that her father Lord Mountbatten was once driving with the Queen and Prince Philip through Cowdray Park and Prince Philip was going far too fast, according to Lord Mountbatten.

"And the Queen was sort of yelping under her breath and flinching as he drove so fast and Prince Philip turned to her and said: 'Look, if you do that once more, I will put you out of the car.'

"And when the hair-raising journey came to an end, Lord Mountbatten asked the Queen why she hasn't protested, saying, 'You're the Queen'.

"But the Queen said: 'Oh, but you heard what he said - and he meant it'."

The road near Sandringham on which the Duke of Edinburgh crashed is expected to have its speed limit decreased amid safety concerns when the council meet on Friday.

On Friday, Norfolk County Council will sit to discuss introducing average speed cameras and dropping the limit from 60mph to 50mph.

Talking of the crash, Mr Brandreth told Today: "I'm sure this morning, as well as being grateful he has survived, he will be concerned for the other people involved.

"He will be shaken by this experience and frustrated that after 80 years of driving, he's likely now not be driving outside of the private grounds of Sandringham and Windsor.

"I'm sure he'll no longer be driving on public roads I'd imagine after this."

The Duke has always been a fan of fast cars, and was driving an MG sports car when he met the Queen in the 1940s.

He upgraded to an Aston Martin and then a Lagonda 3l coupe, which had a top speed of 104mph.

Born in 1921, Mr Brandreth speculated that Prince Philip may have been among those on the road today who have never sat a driving test.

"He's possibly one of that generation who never took a test." he told Today.

"A similar generation to my father who never took a driving test. You didn't have to until the mid 1930s and then some people who were int he armed forces if that's where you learned to drive, you weren't obliged to take a test."