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

This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly asserted to have never heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of family money to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a room or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

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

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Finally, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first royal to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.