LONDON - Sir Edward Ford, the royal courtier who provided Queen Elizabeth II with the memorable phrase annus horribilis to describe her troubles in 1992, has died. He was 96.
Ford, who was the queen's assistant private secretary from her accession in 1952 until he retired in 1967, died Sunday, his family said in an announcement published Tuesday in The Times newspaper.
The cause of death was not announced.
In a letter to the queen in 1992, following the collapse of the marriages of Prince Charles, Prince Andrew and Princess Anne, and a devastating fire at Windsor Castle, Ford turned to Latin to commiserate with her at the end of a horrible year.
The queen used Ford's expression in a speech in November of that year marking the 40th anniversary of her reign.
1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure, she said.
In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an 'annus horribilis.' I suspect that I am not alone in thinking it so.
Educated at Eton and Oxford, one of Ford's first jobs was as a private tutor to the heir to the Egyptian throne, Prince Farouk, who was then 15.
Ford practiced law from 1937 to 1939. During World War II he saw service campaigns in Tunisia and Italy.
He joined the palace staff in 1946.
His wife, Virginia, died in 1995. He is survived by two sons and a stepson.
A funeral was planned for Friday.
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