Folly and Royal Self-Entitlement Ruined Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

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

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted court action.

Years of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and privacy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known uncertain sovereign was pressured further. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial member to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

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

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.