Foolishness and Monarchical Hubris Ruined Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have cursory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly claimed to have never heard of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in official documents: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his service in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast estate at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short statement showed evidently that the institution were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the truth that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.