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

The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly stated to have not known about her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required subservience when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) 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 wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.