Stupidity and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion beamed knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have not known about her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it 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 aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pressured further. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

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

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is contained. The statement from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short statement showed evidently that the institution were siding with the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.