Folly and Royal Self-Entitlement Ruined Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required deference when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

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

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The message from the institution was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the short announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.