Loss of autonomy is a painful reality of old age – but it’s hard to let go when, like Prince Philip, you are used to being in charge

In the wake of his car crash on Thursday afternoon, in which the Duke of Edinburgh rather miraculously walked away unhurt, there has been much speculation over the man’s great age, and whether, at 97, he is now simply too old to operate so independently. Loss of autonomy becomes inevitable when you reach such a ripe vintage, but it is never easy to hand over – in both a metaphorical and literal sense – the keys you have held for so long in your grip.

My grandfather lived until he was 94. Neither he nor his wife, my grandmother (still alive at 99), looked, or acted, their age. The necessity to give up certain activities only ever came at them rudely, and they could never be told they were too old for anything; they had to learn it for themselves, the hard way.