1992: Monarchy vs Media

Queen Elizabeth II refers to 1992 as an “Annus Horribilis,” a latin phrase meaning a horrible year. It was a year that three royal marriages collapsed, a fire destroyed more than a hundred rooms in Windsor castle and an extremely heated scandal involving Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, spooked Britain and the monarchy. It was the first time the Royal Family had been seen in such an intimate, yet intrusive way. With tension rising between the Queen and the media, the royals were unwillingly thrust into the spotlight. In a nutshell, the queen desired compassion and fairer coverage in a year which she felt had allowed her neither. 1992 was most certainly a horrible year, only amplified by the scrutiny of the press. The monarchy has evolved over 1,000 years. It has had all sorts of circumstances running against it, but it has survived.