By November 1992, the royal family had already endured a terrible year. Charles and Diana’s marriage was collapsing in public, Andrew and Sarah had separated, Princess Anne had divorced, and the Squidgygate tape and the Balmoral photographs had filled the newspapers.
On the morning of 20 November 1992, during restoration work at Windsor Castle, a spotlight set fire to a curtain in the Queen’s Private Chapel. The flames spread quickly through the roof spaces and into the historic State Apartments.
More than 200 firefighters fought the blaze. Staff, soldiers and volunteers formed human chains to carry priceless paintings, furniture and treasures to safety. Prince Andrew was among those who helped. The fire burned for around 15 hours before it was finally put out.
The damage was enormous. Around 115 rooms were damaged or destroyed, including nine state rooms. The Queen, who had come to the castle that day, was photographed in a raincoat and headscarf, looking shaken as she surveyed the destruction.
The castle was not insured. Within hours, the government announced that taxpayers would pay for the repairs, which were estimated at tens of millions of pounds.
The public reaction was furious. Many people felt that the royal family, which did not then pay income tax, should not expect ordinary taxpayers to foot the bill, especially during a recession. The anger added to a growing sense that the monarchy was out of touch.
On 24 November, at a lunch at the Guildhall in London to mark her 40 years on the throne, the Queen gave a speech. With a heavy cold, she said that 1992 was not a year she would look back on with undiluted pleasure, and that it had turned out to be an annus horribilis, a horrible year
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Two days later, the Prime Minister, John Major, announced that the Queen and Prince Charles would begin paying income tax on their private income. It was a major change.
The palace also found a new way to fund the repairs. In 1993, Buckingham Palace opened its State Rooms to paying visitors for the first time during the summer. Most of the cost of restoring Windsor was paid for this way.
The restoration was completed in November 1997, on the Queen and Prince Philip’s 50th wedding anniversary. Windsor was saved. But the fire of 1992 is remembered as the moment the royal family learned it could no longer take public support for granted.