Folly and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

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

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Without that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who said she was transported across the sea and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

An odd, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not been aware of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which expected subservience when he appeared in a room or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, accountable and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Finally, the well-known indecisive king was pushed further. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short announcement showed clearly that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.