Folly and Monarchical Hubris Damaged Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who said she was transported across the sea and forced to have brief relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of family resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which expected deference when he walked into a room or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an time when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the stripping of titles and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the accuser's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.