The Queen on Her “Annus Horribilis” (and its aftermath)
“1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis’.” – The Queen’s speech at the London Guildhall on the occasion of her Ruby Jubilee, the 40th anniversary of her accession, 24 November 1992.
1992 should have been a year of celebration as the Queen celebrated her Ruby Jubilee. Instead, the year famously became her “Annus Horribilis” as the marriages of three of her four children broke down with the royal scandals chronicled in lurid detail in the tabloid press. Delivering the speech at the Guildhall, the Queen’s voice was noticeably hoarse – she had caught a cold the previous week when her favourite residence, Windsor Castle, was severely damaged by fire.
“I had her for an hour – and she cried non-stop.” — The Queen to a member of her household in the early 1990s.
As her marriage to Prince Charles broke down, Diana, Princess of Wales, made a series of unannounced visits to the Queen. According to the Queen’s biographer Ingrid Seward, the Queen commented on Diana’s distress after a footman remarked, “The Princess cried three times in a half an hour while she was waiting to see you.”
“We strongly disapprove of the publication of photographs taken in such circumstances.” – Buckingham Palace statement issued on the Queen’s behalf, 20 August 1992.
This terse announcement followed the publication of paparazzi photos of a topless Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, sunbathing and having her toes sucked by her “financial adviser” John Bryant. In her 1997 memoir My Story, the Duchess of York recalled that the photos were published while she was at Balmoral with the royal family, “Eyes wide and mouths ajar, the adults were flipping through the Daily Mirror.” The Duchess recalled that the Queen’s “anger wounded me to the core, the more because I knew she was justified. I had violated her trust.”