Folly and Monarchical Hubris Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have never been aware of her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded subservience when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pressured more. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short communication showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.