Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Ruined Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who declared she was transported across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had overtly claimed to have not known about her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical money to settle a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded deference when he appeared in a room or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to surrender his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the royal household was evidently that the stripping of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.