According to a new history of the royal family, the Queen was “extremely” disappointed that three out of four of her children’s marriages ended in divorce.
“The Queen was finding the divorce talks profoundly disturbing, outwardly stoical as ever,” Robert Hardman writes in his book “Queen of Our Times: The Life of Queen Elizabeth II” (via People.) “Another former member of the Household recalls catching a glimpse of her despondency now and again.”
The 95-year-old monarch’s two sons, Prince Charles and Prince Andrew, as well as her daughter, Princess Anne, are all divorced, leaving her sole child, Prince Edward, to remain married.
Hardman was told by a former royal aide that the Queen was considerably more “distressed” than she ever let on.
“‘Ma’am, it appears to be happening everywhere,’ I responded. “But she just said, ‘Three out of four!’ in sheer grief and exasperation,” the former worker remembered, adding, “This is almost regular practice.” The pain she’s been through should not be underestimated.”
Charles Anson, the Queen’s former press secretary, also said in the book that the Queen never lost her cool, even when the marriages of Charles, Andrew, and Anne all fell apart in 1992.
“I can’t recall a single time when I went to see her and she said, ‘No!’ ‘What comes next?’ Hardman was informed by Anson. “The problem was occasionally humiliating, but she persevered. It’s reassuring to work for someone who hasn’t been rejected in those instances.”
The queen was “never short; never irritated; completely stable,” according to Anson.
Hardman noted that staffers were impressed with how the Queen handled the highly public situation surrounding Charles and Princess Diana.
Princess Anne and Mark Phillips were married from 1973 to 1992.
“Her mother’s tactic in these instances — to act as if nothing was wrong — gained her the moniker ‘imperial ostrich’ among royal officials,” Hardman wrote. “As always, the Queen’s response was to follow in the footsteps of her father, who had learned to accept adversity like the ocean during his days at sea.”
“While the Queen has been accused of being sluggish to act on occasion, there has never been an accusation of panic,” he continued. In the face of a catastrophe, her default mode is stillness.”
Following his adultery scandal with Camilla Parker Bowles, whom he married in 2005, Charles, 73, and the late Diana divorced in 1996 after 15 years of marriage. When Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall assumes the title of “Queen Consort,” she will be the first woman to do so.
Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson divorced in 1996.
Princess Anne, who is 71 years old, was married to Mark Phillips from 1973 to 1992. In 1992, she remarried Timothy Laurence.
From 1986 to 1996, Prince Andrew was married to Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York. Since then, he’s been accused of sexual misconduct.
Since 1999, Prince Edward, the Queen’s son, has been married to Sophie, Countess of Wessex.