Stupidity and Royal Self-Entitlement Ruined Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have not been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family resources to settle a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which demanded respect when he walked into a space or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

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

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

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

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.