Folly and Monarchical Hubris Damaged Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion smiled suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have no been aware of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pressured further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the removal of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, despite the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.