Stupidity and Monarchical Hubris Sunk Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had overtly claimed to have no known about her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to resolve a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, talk of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were printed in public records: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he appeared in a area or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

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

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the account.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

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

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large property at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.