Queen elizabeth ii, 1926 - 2022 PRINCE WILLIAM CHRISTENING
Princess Diana holds Prince William, August 4, 1982, after his Christening, flanked by the Queen and the Queen mother, as Prince Charles and the Duke of Edinburgh stand behind them, at Buckingham Palace. William was the Queen’s second grandchild born in the 1980s, as the first was Zara Phillips. Prince Harry, and Princess Beatrice followed on within the same decade. (Photo: PA/AFP via Getty Images)
The 1980s were an eventful decade for the Queen, and one which saw ever increasing levels of public interest in the private lives of the Royals.
This began with the engagement then swift marriage of her eldest son Prince Charles to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981. Watched by millions around the world, the spectacular 1981 event sparked ‘Diana mania’. The newest princess attracted huge public and media attention everywhere she went.
The marriage disintegrated through the eighties, but the Queen welcomed four grandchildren in this decade, with Zara first, to Princess Anne and Mark Phillips, followed by William and Harry to the Prince and Princess of Wales, and lastly Beatrice, to the Duke and Duchess of York.
The latter couple married in 1986, but by the end of the decade their marriage too was floundering, as was that of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips. These troubles paved the way for the year named by the Queen as her annus horribilis, in 1992.
There were several international tours for Her Majesty during the 1980s, but it was on home soil, during the June 1981 Trooping the Colour ceremony, that six shots were fired at her from close range as she rode down The Mall, London. Police later discovered the shots were blanks fired by 17-year-old Marcus Sarjeant. Her composure shown at the time was praised.
In October that year another attempt on her life was made and failed while she was on a visit to Dunedin, New Zealand.
Then on July 9, 1982, intruder Michael Fagan infiltrated the palace and made it in to the Queen’s bedroom. In a serious lapse of security, help only arrived after two calls to the police switchboard.
US President Ronald Reagan visited Windsor Castle in 1982, followed by a return trip to his California ranch by the Queen in 1983. She showed anger when the invasion of Grenada, one of her Caribbean realms, was made without her knowledge.
From April to September 1982, the Falklands War took place. Prince Andrew served with the British forces, adding to the Queen’s anxieties. Margaret Thatcher was the Prime Minister during this decade, and her government’s policies over coal led to the 1984 Miners’ Strike. It was reported in The Sunday Times that the Queen was worried that Margaret Thatcher’s economic policies ‘fostered social divisions’ and that she was alarmed by ‘high unemployment, riots, the violence of a miners’ strike, and Thatcher’s refusal to apply sanctions against the apartheid regime in South Africa’.
Brian Mulroney, Canadian prime minister from 1984, said Elizabeth ll was a “behind the scenes force” in ending apartheid.
Pope John Paul II became the first pope to visit British shores in 1982, and in 1983, Mother Teresa of Calcutta received the Insignia of the Honorary Order of Merit from the Queen, in New Delhi.
‘I come across examples of unselfish service in all walks of life in unexpected places’
Queen Elizabeth II