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

It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of family resources to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the loss of designations and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Notably painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short communication showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.