Annus horribilis

Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase that means "horrible year". It is complementary to annus mirabilis, which means "wonderful year".

Origin of phrase

The phrase "annus horribilis" was used in 1891 in an Anglican publication to describe 1870, the year in which the dogma of papal infallibility was defined in the Catholic Church.

Elizabeth II

1992

The expression was brought to prominence by Queen Elizabeth II. In a speech at Guildhall on 24 November 1992, marking her Ruby Jubilee on the throne, she said:
The "sympathetic correspondent" was later revealed to be her former assistant private secretary Sir Edward Ford. The unpleasant events which happened to the royal family in this year include:

publication of photographs pertaining to an affair between Sarah Ferguson, and Texan oil millionaire Steve Wyatt ;
separation of the Queen's second son Prince Andrew, Duke of York, from his wife Sarah ;
divorce of the Queen's daughter, Anne, Princess Royal, from Captain Mark Phillips ;
publication of Diana, Princess of Wales' tell-all book Diana: Her True Story, revealing the problems in her marriage to the Queen's eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, particularly his affair with Camilla Parker Bowles ;
publication of photographs of Sarah sunbathing topless with her friend John Bryan ;
publication of taped, intimate phone conversations between Diana and James Gilbey ; and
a fire in Windsor Castle, one of the Queen's official residences.

After the Queen delivered her speech, one more notable event transpired: the separation of Charles and Diana.

2019

The year 2019 was described by some commentators as a second annus horribilis for the British royal family. In January that year, 97-year-old Prince Philip crashed his car into another carrying two women and a baby, and subsequently surrendered his driving licence. Later on in August, the Queen was involved in a constitutional crisis when Prime Minister Boris Johnson advised her to prorogue Parliament, a recommendation later ruled unlawful by the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Her son Prince Andrew gave a universally-criticised BBC Newsnight interview about his relationship with convicted child-sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and there was increased tabloid scrutiny of rifts between the Cambridge and Sussex households.

Other uses

Boris Yeltsin (1998)

described 1998 in Russian politics as an annus horribilis because of Boris Yeltsin's isolationist and militarist policies, the East Asian financial crisis, and Western countries cutting off the reform money that they gave to the Russian government in prior years.

Ben Affleck (2003)

Hollywood actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck once said that 2003 was his annus horribilis. Affleck starred in the films Daredevil and Gigli, both of which received negative reviews from critics. Gigli was a box-office bomb and drew particular ire from Hollywood critics and moviegoers, which culminated in six wins at the 24th Golden Raspberry Awards ceremony. In addition, Affleck with his fiancée and later second wife, Jennifer Lopez, were mocked and criticised by the public for their seemingly accommodating attitudes to and henceforth over-exposure in the tabloid media.

Kofi Annan (2004)

, the United Nations Secretary-General, used the phrase in his year-end press conference on 21 December 2004. He reflected: "There's no doubt that this has been a particularly difficult year, and I am relieved that this annus horribilis is coming to an end." His remarks were widely interpreted as having alluded to persistent allegations of corruption in the UN's Iraq Oil-for-Food Program. He also spoke of upheaval and violence in Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Iraq, Palestine, and Sudan; the ongoing process of UN internal reform; and "persistent...criticism against the UN" and himself personally. Annan's remarks came five days before the deadliest event of the year : the Indian Ocean tsunami on 26 December, which killed 227,898 people.

Juan Carlos I (2007)

In 2007, the Spanish royal family, in particular King Juan Carlos I, faced a difficult year. Family tragedy and a series of controversies led Spanish newspapers to refer to the year as the king's annus horribilis.

In February, Érika Ortiz Rocasolano, the youngest sister of Letizia, then Princess of Asturias, died of a sedative overdose in her apartment.
In July, a humour magazine, El Jueves, published a drawing on the cover depicting Felipe VI, and the aforementioned Princess Letizia having sex, with a caption reading: "Just imagine if you end up pregnant. This will be the closest thing to work I've ever done in my life." It satirized a proposal by the government to give 2,500 euros to the parents of newborn children. The magazine was banned and removed from distribution, which led to a censorship controversy.
In September, Catalan separatists were tried for having burned photographs of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía at an anti-monarchy and Catalan separatist rally in Girona while the royal couple toured the city.
In early November at the XVII Ibero-American Summit, after a verbal altercation between Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela, and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Prime Minister of Spain, the king admonished Chávez, "¿Por qué no te callas?".
Shortly after the summit, the royal house announced the separation of the king's daughter, the Duchess of Lugo, and her husband, Jaime de Marichalar. The couple has two children, Felipe and Victoria.
Michael J. Fox (2018)

used the term in his 2020 memoir No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality multiple times to describe his experiences in 2018; he also referred to 2018 as "a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad" year.

COVID-19 pandemic (2020)

The year 2020 was widely remarked as being an annus horribilis for the entire world in general, most notably due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began in late 2019 and rapidly spread worldwide throughout 2020. 2020 was also awarded a "Special Governors' Award for The Worst Calendar Year EVER!" at the 41st Golden Raspberry Awards. At the end of the year, Netflix released Death to 2020, a mockumentary discussing the events of the year.

Iran (2024)

Journalist David Leonhardt of the New York Times described 2024 as an annus horribilis for the Iranian government, citing the failed outcome of the strikes against Israel in April, the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in May, the death of the core leadership of the Iranian-backed Hamas and Hezbollah during their respective wars against Israel, the reelection of Donald Trump in November, and the collapse of the Assad regime in Ba'athist Syria in December.