The Crown is back for a fifth series, with fans of the show sinking their teeth into the events and scandals that shrouded the Royal Family in the 1990s. As the Netflix series is a 'fictionalised dramatisation' of real situations, viewers are being shown a sometimes exaggerated or entirely fictionalised recollection of events, which can vastly differ from what really happened between the years of 1991 and 1997.
One of the historical moments that features in the fifth series of the drama is the Queen's memorable 'Annus Horribiliis' speech, with episode four of the series bearing the name of the unforgettable Ruby Jubilee speech, which she read in November 1992. With just weeks to go before the end of the year, the Queen reflected on the scandals that had shaken the Royal Family over the course of the months leading up to the speech.
The speech was read by the Queen at Guildhall to celebrate 40 years of the Queen's reign on the anniversary of her Accession on November 24, 1992. However, the words read out by the late monarch were far from celebratory, with one of the most memorable lines said by Her Majesty during the speech being: "1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure."
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1992 was a very dramatic year for the Royal Family, with the press keeping a firm eye on multiple members as a number of scandals unfolded. From Charles and Diana's ill-fated marriage and the toe-kissing photo which followed Prince Andrew's separation from Sarah Ferguson, to the many millions of pounds of damage the Royal Family had to foot after a fire ripped through Windsor Castle.
The blaze had been sparked just four days before the Queen made her speech, on the morning of November 20. The fire, started by a faulty spotlight in the Queen's private chapel, ripped through the royal Berkshire residence, causing millions of pounds of destruction for hours on end.
As a result of the fire, the Royal Family had to foot a staggering bill of £36.5 million, with a number of items from the Royal Collection lost forever, including the Sir William Beechey portrait George III and the Prince of Wales Reviewing Troops - which was too large for firefighters to remove - several items of porcelain, multiple chandeliers, the Willis organ and the 1851 Great Exhibition Axminster carpet, according to ET. Then-Secretary of State for National Heritage Peter Brooke branded the fire a 'national disaster'.
In terms of the divorces and separations, three of the Queen's four children endured splits from their respective partners in 1992. Princess Anne finalised her divorce from her first husband and father of her two children, Captain Mark Phillips, marrying Commander Sir Timothy Laurence a few months later, whom she met whilst he was serving as her mother's equerry.
Meanwhile, Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson announced their separation, after a long period of estrangement and public speculation regarding Fergie's relationship with Texan multimillionaire Steve Wyatt. In August of 1992, paparazzi photographs were published by The Mirror, showing American financial manager John Bryan kissing Fergie's toes as she sunbathed topless in France, which caused a fair deal of trouble for the Royal Family.
Most famously, Charles and Diana's relationship, which had been crumbling for some time, finally ended, with then-Prime Minister John Major announcing the couple's separation in Parliament in December 1992. Despite their separation being announced in 1992, Charles and Diana did not have their divorce finalised until August 1996.
The separation of Charles and Diana came after two very public 1992 scandals which severed a large amount of trust between Diana and the Royal Family. That year, Andrew Morton released his bombshell book, 'Diana: Her True Story', a shocking biography which contained some unnerving revelations pertaining to Diana's multiple attempts to end her own life, her eating disorders and the difficult life she had living with the Royal Family.
Morton, following the release of the biography, claimed he had not interviewed the then-Princess of Wales for the work, but it was later revealed that he had used a number of stream-of-consciousness recordings made by Diana alongside her friend, James Colthurst, to write it.
Another scandal relating to Diana which rocked the Royal Family in 1992 was the leaking of a taped conversation between her and her friend, James Gilbey, to the press. The conversation was allegedly taped by a radio enthusiast, and the incident became known as 'Squidgygate' due to the number of times Gilbey affectionately referred to Diana as 'Squidgy', as some sort of pet name.
In the recording, Diana and Gilbey could be heard discussing her relationship with various members of the royal family and her fear of getting pregnant. Both the leaking of the 'Squidgygate' and 'Camillagate' recordings led to a lot of speculation regarding the security of the Royal Family's phone lines, although two reports published by John Major's government cleared both the MI5 and MI6 of involvement in the scandals.
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