Annus
horribilis II? UK's Queen Elizabeth will reflect on another tough year
Michael
Holden
LONDON
(Reuters) - When Britain’s Queen Elizabeth addresses her nation on Christmas
Day it will mark the end of one of the most difficult years of her long reign.
Over the
past 12 months, her husband got a police warning for his involvement in a car
crash, her grandsons Princes William and Harry publicly fell out and her second
son Prince Andrew got ever more entangled in the furor over his links to
disgraced U.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“This is as
bad as it gets for her,” royal biographer Penny Junor told Reuters.
Back in
1992, the queen described an “annus horribilis”, wrecked by the collapse of
three of her children’s marriages - including Prince Charles’ to Princess Diana
- and the fire that severely damaged her Windsor Castle home.
“She
obviously won’t use that phrase again,” said Junor, “but I would suspect in
some ways this (year) has been even worse.”
In January,
Elizabeth’s 98-year-old husband Prince Philip was involved in a car accident
near the family’s Sandringham estate in eastern England. He had to give up his
driving license after police gave him a warning for driving without wearing a
seat belt.
Grandson
Prince Harry and his American wife Meghan faced increasingly hostile stories in
the press, culminating in them taking legal action against a number of
tabloids. Harry also said he and elder brother Prince William had fallen out,
without giving details.
The queen
herself was embroiled in political wrangling over Britain’s exit from the
European Union, with her suspension of parliament in September at the behest of
Prime Minister Boris Johnson ruled unlawful by the country’s top court.
But by far
the greatest negativity was generated by the furor over Andrew’s links to
Epstein, and accusations the prince had had sex with a 17-year-old girl.
An
interview Andrew gave to the BBC in November denying that accusation and any
other wrongdoing was cast by the British media as a disaster, leading to him
stepping down from public duties. Still, the year may not have been a total
catastrophe.
SURVIVAL
“Most
people will look upon 2019 as not a particularly good year for the institution
but the queen came out pretty well,” said Dickie Arbiter, Elizabeth’s press
secretary from 1988 to 2000.
“The monarchy
has evolved over 1,000 years. It has had all sorts of circumstances running
against it, but it has survived. It survived 1992, it survived the abdication
of (King Edward VIII in) 1936, it survived 2019.”
Some have
gone as far as saying the family could eventually emerge even stronger - and
that this year’s traumas could lay the foundations of a new slimmed-down
monarchy, a long-term aim of future king Prince Charles.
The heir
was key in the decision to have Andrew “de-royaled” and effectively fired from
his job, said royal historian Robert Lacey.
“It’s a
tragedy in a way, but it is a plus to see Charles playing a positive role in
events,” added Lacey, the historical consultant to the hugely-popular Netflix
TV series “The Crown”. “After 20 years, Charles is finally getting his way.”
To mark her
50th year as queen in 2002, more than a dozen members of the royal family
appeared on the balcony at Buckingham Palace. A decade later it was just her,
her husband, Prince Charles and wife Camilla, together with William, his wife
Kate and Harry.
While
Andrew dominated newspapers and broadcasts, even overshadowing the recent
election, Lacey said September’s Supreme Court ruling was more significant,
possibly heralding the end of the monarchy’s few remaining prerogative powers
and posing questions about its future constitutional role.
“It could
reduce the monarch to an essentially ceremonial and charitable role,” he said.
“The new
involvement of the Supreme Court doesn’t question the existence of the monarchy
- yet. But if certain decisions and prerogatives are going to be controlled or
taken away, then what has the prime minister got to go to speak to the queen
about each week?”
So there
will be much to discuss around the Christmas table when the royals - or “the
firm” as they call themselves - gather at Sandringham estate next week.
One of
those whose support they can count on is the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin
Welby, spiritual leader of the world’s 80 million Anglicans.
“I think to
ask that they be superhuman saints is not what we should do because nobody is
like that,” he said in an interview with The Big Issue, a magazine that helps
the homeless.
“Everybody
makes mistakes, everybody is human. I am not commenting on any member of the
royal family except to say that I am astonished at what a gift they are to this
country.”
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