🔗 Share this article

It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was transported across the sea and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have no known about her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper transfers from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of books giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously hesitant king was prodded more. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.