Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's resources to resolve a protracted legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which expected subservience when he appeared in a area or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously uncertain monarch was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial royal to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his role in the engagement

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

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

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed plainly that the royals were supporting the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.