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

The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who said she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have no been aware of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's money to resolve a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a area or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and attentive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the famously hesitant sovereign was pressured additional. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of designations and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary monarch to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.