Foolishness and Royal Self-Entitlement Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate smiled knowingly in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical resources to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he walked into a room or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to lose his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.