After everything that has been, after all the twists of fate, the scandals, the dramas, the downfalls of which the members of the Windsor family have been protagonists in the last, very dense 8 decades, it seems almost risky to label 2025 as one of the most complex and intense years of the British monarchy. But how, one might say, afterwards The terrible year lived by Elisabetta II and by his family in 1992 – that of the dramatic separations between Charles and Diana and Sarah Ferguson and Prince Andrew and of the disastrous fire at Windsor Castle – and with all the pain that befell the British house before and after the death of the sovereign, is it possible that the 365 days that are about to end have been so difficult, intricate, memorable in their own way? Just remember that this was the year of the fall of the former Prince Andrew of York, today alone Andrea Mountbatten-Windsorto reiterate that yes, 2025 has put the British monarchy and its ambassadors to the test, from re Carlo III alla’s nora Cate Middleton, inflexible bulwarks, together with the principe William and to the queen consort Camilla, of a Crown which, despite the media earthquakes, remains firmly on the head of the sovereign.
King Charles III, 77 years old, protagonist of an intense photo in Dartmouth, England
The year of the Windsors: Meghan on TV, Harry makes peace with his father, Kate comes back to life
In this play of light and shadow that has marked the House of Windsor for almost a century and which in 2025 gave many thoughts to King Charles’ family, there were also moments of joy. Above all, the return to life of Princess Kate, lashed by a subtle evil which kept her away from her royal duties throughout 2024, the year of her diagnosis and treatment. In January 2025, William’s wife announced the remission of her cancer, anticipating her progressive return to the royal scene. And so, in fact, it was. The princess has resumed her place alongside her husband, with whom she has now shared her life for over 20 years, but she has also regained the hearts of her subjects – as if it were needed, the world adores her – with a series of events and commitments in which she was the absolute protagonist. After the darkness of 2024, this year gave us a more open Katealso compared to the fears felt after receiving the diagnosis, increasingly preponderant in monarchical structures and already ready to embrace her destiny as future queen consort.
And it was, to counteract Kate’s return to life, also the year of Meghan Marklethe American sister-in-law who is today reaping the fruits of her Hollywood-style investments and media strategies. In March, after months of work and rumors, his major lifestyle project arrived on Netflix, With Love Meghana compendium of everything she likes and makes her happy. Which however, ironically, it wasn’t liked and didn’t make viewers happyready to criticize the program and accuse it of being an inauthentic picture of the duchess’s life. Meghan, however, is someone who knows a lot about communication and in fact, thanks to a deployment of renowned experts and consultants at her service, she has set up a business that intertwines social media (her personal profile @meghan), merchandising (the As Ever website) and non-profit (her work as a benefactor carried out with her husband Harry).
Everything can be said about the Duchess of Sussex, but not that her ambitions didn’t take her exactly where she wanted to be: in Los Angeles, her hometown, with her two children Archie and Lilibet and with the man “who loves her more than anything”, as she said in one of the many interviews given this year to promote her work and her brand. So chapeau for the stubbornness: will 2026 be the year in which the Sussexes finally return to the public’s good graces?
Finally, Prince Harry. This year we saw him doing very American things – attending baseball and basketball games, participating as a host at the Late Show by Stephen Colbert – but in the end his steps brought him exactly back to the starting point, in that London from which he fled with Meghan in 2020, to reconcile with his father Carlo. After long negotiations and diplomatic entanglements between the king’s team and that of the Sussexes, the meeting between father and son took place behind closed doors, at Clarence House, after months of emptiness and silent telephones. A first step towards peace, as the royal experts defined it, which however did not include his older brother William or his sister-in-law Kate, whose resentment is still too strong to be able to lower the hatchet, after everything that has happened.
Prince Harry in the stands of a baseball game with his wife Meghan
The crown falters: the fall of Andrea, a disgraced former prince
Among the worst frames of 2025, the one that frames the former Duke of York, today alone, can only stand out Andrea Mountbatten-Windsorin the final phase of his royal parable. His involvement in the Epstein case, the anger of his brother Carlo and his nephew William but, most of all, the moving biographical book by Virginia Giuffre, the Australian woman who was the main accuser of Epstein and his partner Ghislaine Maxwell and who for years, before committing suicide in April, said she had had relations with Andrea when she was a minor, which marked her end, forever sanctioning her exit from the royal family.
Andrew, King Charles’ younger brother, will live the last years of his life as a recluse
Stripped of all titles – even those obtained by birth – segregated in Sandringham, where he will live from now on after the years of glories at Royal Lodge di Windsorin which he lived practically for free with ex-wife – then best friend – today who knows Sarah Ferguson for decades, derided by his subjects, tormented by the press, abandoned by politics and by his family, the former duke has become the symbol of the times that prevail at court. Actually, no, in the whole world. Era in which slips, falls and diplomatic stumbles are no longer allowed. In which justifications, indulgence, excuses for serious facts like those of which Andrea was guilty no longer find a place. In which not even a birthright dripping with privilege like that of a prince is safe. Although it was one of the worst moments for the Windsors, the fall of the former Duke of York marked a legendary moment for royal chronicles and current events, the beginning of a real MeToo that had been in the air for some time and which, finally, has come to fruition. Public opinion applauded the decision of the sovereign and his eldest son William and order was re-established, with the hope that people like Andrew will no longer destroy the balance for which Elizabeth II fought so hard in her life. The crown is safe. At least until next year.
