🔗 Share this article Folly and Royal Self-Entitlement Ruined Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member. Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the rear. Lacking that image, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal family? A strange, telling action by someone who had openly claimed to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's resources to settle a protracted court action. A Long Period of Disgrace In this context, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light. Self-importance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant? Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to palaces. Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money. Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy". World of Deference Then there was the presumption which expected deference when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends. He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive media appearance six years ago. Latest Events Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections. More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal. The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance. Monarchical Concerns The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished. Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people. He was placing all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough. The Fallout Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story. Now it is the stripping of designations and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely. Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor Historical Precedent: The primary monarch to surrender his designations in recent history Naval Career: Particularly painful given his duty in the Falklands war He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will ever come to pass. Future Prospects Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew, Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast property at a royal residence. At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support. It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance. Unresolved Issues Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed. Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, sought. A Shift in Position No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of events. Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him." In the end it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.