Crown in Crisis: Divorce

1992, the year which the queen herself described as an “annus horribillis”, goes down in history as a tragic period in time for the royals. Princess Anne, Prince Andrew and Prince Charles have gone through public divorces which shocked the nation. On July 29, 1981, nearly one billion television viewers in 74 countries tuned in to witness the marriage of Prince Charles, heir to the British throne, to Lady Diana Spencer, a young English schoolteacher. However this marriage only lasted 5 years as the couple divorced on the 28th August 1996. On July 23, 1986, Prince Andrew and Sarah married in a grand royal wedding held at Westminster Abbey in London. Their marriage lasted longer as the couple divorced 10 years later on the 30th May 1996. Princess Anne’s marriage lasted the longest of them all, however similarly ended in divorce. She married her first husband, Capt. Mark Phillips, an army officer, on November 14, 1973, in Westminster Abbey and later divorced on 23rd April 1992. All three couples faced tests in their marriages that ultimately lead them to separate.