Annus Horribilis 2024: How Kate Middleton cancer announcement is Royal Family’s latest blow this year after King Charles’s diagnosis and Prince Harry’s ongoing estrangement – 32 years after Queen Elizabeth II’s famous speech

Back in 1992, Queen Elizabeth II endured the lowest point of her reign after a year of royal scandal and turmoil which she famously dubbed her ‘annus horribilis’.

Charles was at war with Diana, Andrew separated from Sarah, Anne divorced, Windsor Castle went up in flames and public opinion turned against the royals.

Now, 32 years later, the Royal Family is facing what could become its deepest crisis since the 1936 abdication of Edward VIII amid a barrage of bad news in 2024.

The Princess of Wales’s cancer announcement marks the latest blow to the royals since the start of the year – including the King also being diagnosed with the disease, Prince Harry’s continued estrangement and the death of Thomas Kingston.

This comes on top of two devastating losses for the family in the past three years – Prince Philip in April 2021 aged 99, then Elizabeth II in September 2022 aged 96. 

Prince William is now set to be absent from royal duties until after Easter as he supports Kate – with the Royal Family left with only four senior working royals for the coming weeks: Queen Camilla, Princess Anne, Prince Edward and his wife Sophie. 

And matters are not helped with Harry having been based in the US since 2020 and Prince Andrew stepping back in 2019 because of the Jeffrey Epstein scandal. 

Joe Little, managing editor of Majesty magazine, said today: ‘It’s a remarkable situation, and a significant moment for the monarchy and the institution so early in the King’s reign that two senior figures should be out of action.’

He added that Charles’s slimmed-down monarchy approach meant ‘the pressure is on a much smaller team’.

The latest news follows weeks of speculation about Kate, with her revealing in a video message issued by Kensington Palace at 6pm last night that she was being treated for cancer.

The Princess was initially admitted to hospital for abdominal surgery on January 16 and at the time her condition was thought to be non-cancerous, but cancer was found after a successful operation.

Charles was admitted to hospital just days after Kate, also for a procedure deemed unrelated to cancer.

In February, Buckingham Palace confirmed that Charles had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, which is not prostate cancer, that was discovered while the King was being treated at the private London Clinic for an enlarged prostate.

In wishing the monarch a full recovery, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said thankfully the cancer had been ‘caught early’.

During a visit to Northern Ireland this week, Queen Camilla said the King is ‘doing very well’ and sent his ‘very, very best wishes’ to the First and deputy First Minister.

The King has postponed public-facing duties but is said to be continuing to work behind the scenes on his red boxes – his state business and official papers.

Sarah, Duchess of York, became the third royal in quick succession to announce a medical procedure at the beginning of 2024, when she revealed a diagnosis of malignant melanoma, a form of skin cancer.

It was her second cancer diagnosis within a year, having been diagnosed with breast cancer in the summer which led to her undergoing a mastectomy and subsequent reconstructive surgery.

She had discovered an early form of breast cancer during a routine mammogram screening.

‘Naturally another cancer diagnosis has been a shock, but I’m in good spirits and grateful for the many messages of love and support,’ Sarah said on Instagram.

In late February, tragedy befell Prince Michael’s family when Thomas Kingston, the husband of Michael’s daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, died from a ‘catastrophic head injury’ with a gun close to his body.

For many years, it was the estrangement of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex that dominated discourse around the royal family after the pair stepped down as working royals in 2020.

Having relocated to Montecito in California, Harry has returned to the UK infrequently but did so after the King’s cancer diagnosis.

Yesterday, Harry and his wife Meghan Markle wished Kate ‘health and healing’, adding that they hoped the Princess and her family would be ‘able to do so privately and in peace’.

The couple released the short statement a few hours after the princess’s medical development was made public.

Last month, Harry returned to the UK after making an emergency dash from the US to see the King following his cancer diagnosis.

The duke cleared his diary and made the journey alone, with Meghan and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet remaining at home in California.

But there was no reconciliation between Harry and his brother the Prince of Wales during the visit, after the duke spent around 45 minutes at Clarence House seeing Charles.

He last appeared alongside the Windsors and the Waleses at the King’s coronation, but hurried home immediately afterwards to mark his son’s fourth birthday.

Since stepping down as working royals in 2020 and moving to California with their family, the Sussexes have aired allegations and grievances against the monarchy and members of Harry’s family.

The duke’s allegations against his family appeared unrelenting in the aftermath of Megxit with his Oprah interview, and, in the months following the Queen’s death, his Netflix documentary and memoir Spare.

There were accusations of racism in relation to Archie’s skin tone before he was born – with the remarks in the end alleged to have come from two senior royals – and claims Kensington Palace lied to protect William over reports he allegedly bullied Harry out of the royal family.

The duke also accused William of physically attacking him and throwing him into a dog bowl in a row over Meghan, teasing him about his panic attacks, and, along with Kate, encouraging him to wear a Nazi uniform at a fancy dress party.

While Charles and Harry were said to still speak, William has reportedly not been in contact with his brother for an extended period of time.

However, last month Harry suggested that the King’s health troubles could lead to a reconciliation with the family.

Asked during an interview with ABC’s Good Morning America whether the cancer diagnosis for Charles could have a ‘re-unifying effect’, Harry replied: ‘Yeah, I am sure.’

Harry turned eight years old in 1992 when his grandmother Elizabeth II suffered her ‘annus horribilis’.

It came amid a series of family scandals including marriage trouble for three of her children – Charles, Anne and Andrew.

Then on November 20 that year a fire caused major damage to Windsor Castle – destroying 115 rooms, including nine state rooms.

Acknowledging that the monarchy should not be above criticism, the Queen effectively pleaded for a fairer hearing with a pledge to work for change while maintaining the institution’s stability and continuity.

Her frank and deeply personal message came in a speech to more than 500 VIP guests at a Corporation of London Guildhall luncheon on November 24, 1992, to mark her 40th year on the throne.

Her voice cracking through the effects of a cold, she used what should have been a happy celebration to face down her critics and thank her supporters for their loyalty.

It came at the end of a period of unrelenting scrutiny of the affairs of the royal family – from the marriage problems of Waleses to the break-up of the Yorks.

The Queen at no stage referred openly to her family’s problems, but there was little doubt over her meaning.

She said: ‘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’. I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so.

‘Indeed I suspect that there are very few people or institutions unaffected by these last months of worldwide turmoil and uncertainty.’

The Queen’s use of the Latin phrase ‘annus horribilis’, which translates as ‘horrible year’, was a play on the more commonly used phrase ‘annus mirabilis’, meaning ‘year of wonders’.

The ‘sympathetic correspondent’ was Sir Edward Ford, a former assistant private secretary to both George VI and the Queen.

The events of 1992 had prompted Sir Edward to write to Sir Robert (now Lord) Fellowes, then the Queen’s private secretary, to commiserate.

His classical education led him to use the words which have become entrenched in royal history.

The Queen claimed that constructive criticism could and should act as an engine for change in any institution.

‘There can be no doubt, of course, that criticism is good for people and institutions that are part of public life,’ she said.

‘No institution, city, monarchy, whatever, should expect to be free from the scrutiny of those who give it their loyalty and support, not to mention those who don’t.

‘But we are all part of the same fabric of our national society and that scrutiny, by one part of another, can be just as effective if it is made with a touch of gentleness, good humour and understanding.’

In a passage which some observers interpreted as an open plea for understanding, the Queen said: ‘I dare say that history will take a slightly more moderate view than that of some contemporary commentators.

‘Distance is well-known to lend enchantment, even to the less attractive views. After all, it has the inestimable advantage of hindsight.

‘But it can also lend an extra dimension to judgment, giving it a leavening of moderation and compassion, even of wisdom, that is sometimes lacking in the reaction of those whose task it is in life to offer instant opinions on all things great and small.

‘No section of the community has all the virtues, neither does any have all the vices.

‘I am quite sure that most people try to do their jobs as best they can, even if the result is not always entirely successful.

‘He who has never failed to reach perfection has a right to be the harshest critic.’