Stupidity and Regal Arrogance Ruined Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual smiled suggestively in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have not heard of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in public records: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the famously hesitant sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

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

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.