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

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

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have no heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to settle a drawn-out court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which required deference when he appeared in a room or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was prodded additional. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his role in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.