Folly and Royal Self-Entitlement Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

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

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have never been aware of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more grim information of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an age when respect and discretion is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but none of these will truly happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the revocation 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, notably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the institution were siding with the accuser's narrative of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.