Foolishness and Monarchical Hubris Damaged Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed suggestively in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly stated to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he appeared in a space or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary member to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his role in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the institution were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.