How second full year of Charles’s reign parallels 1992 ‘annus horribilis’

Much like in his mother’s terrible year, the monarchy’s vulnerabilities were exposed by a series of jolting events

The king will not look back on his annus horribilis “with undiluted pleasure”, as his late mother with masterly understatement so memorably observed of her own.

His cancer diagnosis and that of the Princess of Wales was a shocking jolt, while the poor judgment of the Duke of York has cast a shadow over the Sandringham royal Christmas. The Duke of Sussex’s relentless legal actions against newspapers have made headlines and he takes to the witness box again in the New Year.