Mountain road biker rescued by Prince

The Prince of Wales rushed to help an injured motorcyclist after an accident on a mountain road.

The prince, who is on holiday at Balmoral, was driving a Land Rover Discovery when he saw 52-year-old Hugh Simpson, who had fallen off his motorbike seconds earlier and plunged down a 15ft embankment.

Charles and his Scotland Yard protection officers in a following vehicle stopped and hurried to help Mr Simpson, who ended up only a few feet short of a fast-flowing river.

The detectives gave him first aid and the royal party waited with him until an ambulance arrived. He was taken to hospital in Dundee, where he had surgery on a shattered wrist.

The incident took place late on Sunday afternoon on the Old Military Road, or A93, near the Glenshee Ski Centre in Aberdeenshire.

Mr Simpson, a salesman from from Crieff in Perthshire, was riding a 187mph Kawasaki 1200 ZZR. Last night he said from hospital: "I cannot thank Prince Charles and his bodyguards enough.

"I came around a corner and hit a patch of gravel. I had just about regained control when I ran out of road and hit a grass verge.

"I woke up lying face down with the bike beside me. I knew my wrist was smashed and was relieved when the Prince's men turned up.

"They were first aid experts and had all the medical kit required in their Land Rover.

"They had oxygen and splints and a neck kit they put around me. They made me feel quite comfortable very quickly.

"They even phoned the hospital to inquire how I was later on."