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

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Without that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which expected respect when he walked into a area or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded further. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of designations and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of events.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.