Year of trials and tribulations for Britain's royals
LONDON, United Kingdom — It was a year of trials and tribulations for Britain's royals that Queen Elizabeth II called "
Here are
The ailing prince
The year began with the queen's husband Prince Philip overturning his Land Rover after crashing it into an oncoming car.
It ended with the 98-year-old undergoing hospital treatment for what Buckingham Palace described as a "pre-existing condition".
The January accident left a woman with a broken wrist and the prince "shocked and shaken", according to a witness.
He blamed the accident on
Yet time has taken its toll on the queen's companion of 72 years.
He retired from public life in 2017 and had a hip replacement operation the following year.
"Once you get to that age things don't work
The 'favourite son'
The queen's children and grandchildren have frequently
Andrew's attempts to clear his name in a BBC interview in November could have hardly gone worse.
The prince looked stiff and unapologetic — a performance akin to "watching a man in quicksand", according to PR consultant Mark Borkowski.
Andrew's lines of defence included a bizarre claim that he never sweated — his accuser said he perspired
"There is
The prince promised to "step back from public duties" a few days later.
The bickering grandchildren
Princess Diana's sons William and Harry found comfort in each other following their mother's death in a 1997 Paris car crash.
But the two princes found themselves dragged into a tabloid scandal involving rumours of a growing rift.
Prince Harry admitted in October that the two were "
"Inevitably stuff happens," he said in an ITV interview that
Both Harry and his American actress wife Meghan Markle spoke about their struggles
Harry took legal action against two newspapers over the alleged illegal interception of voicemail messages around the same time.
Meghan filed a separate lawsuit against a paper that published excerpts of letters her estranged father had sent to her.
The Brexit mess
The bitter divisions over Britain's future that have accompanied its exit from the European Union have also given the queen some grief.
She became embroiled in the saga after she approved the suspension of parliament requested by Prime Minister Boris Johnson in August, amid accusations he was trying to stop lawmakers discussing Brexit.
The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that Johnson's request was unlawful as it stopped parliament from carrying out its duties.
The queen herself holds only symbolic power — in practice she has to follow the advice of her ministers.
But the BBC's royal correspondent Jonny Dymond called it "a hideous moment for the palace".
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