Folly and Monarchical Hubris Ruined Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were listed in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his role in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.