Folly and Regal Arrogance Damaged Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not known about her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which required deference when he entered a space or the profound obsession about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known uncertain sovereign was prodded further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Currently the removal of designations and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but not any of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

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

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.