🔗 Share this article

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

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required subservience when he walked into a space or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary member to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were siding with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.