🔗 Share this article

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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that image, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have no known about her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Eventually, the famously hesitant king was pushed additional. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his role in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

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

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The statement from the institution was evidently that the stripping of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's version of events.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.