Foolishness and Royal Self-Entitlement Damaged Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have brief relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had openly stated to have no heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's resources to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his duty in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that reality.