The Duke of Edinburgh has personally written to the two women injured in the car crash he was involved in on the Sandringham estate to say he is “deeply sorry.”

The 97-year-old wrote to Ellie Townsend, the driver of the Kia Carens that collided with his Land Rover as he pulled out of a sideroad, and her passenger, Emma Fairweather.

It follows mounting criticism of the way both Buckingham Palace and the police handled the fallout from the crash. The Duke was pictured back at the wheel without a seatbelt just two days later, which was deemed “insensitive and inconsiderate” to the victims.

In his letter to Ms Fairweather, the Duke admitted he had "failed to see the car coming" and blamed the bright winter sun that was low in the sky.

He wished her a “speedy recovery from a very distressing experience” and said he felt “very contrite about the consequences.”

He admitted he was left “somewhat shaken” after the accident, which resulted in him having to be pulled through the sunroof of his vehicle after it flipped onto its side, and explained that he had been advised to return to Sandringham House by a police officer shortly after the collision.