Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the background.

Without that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who declared she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, telling move by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of family resources to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

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

At that location, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse 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 crown is restricted. The message from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.