🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have brief relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in public records: private aircraft flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he entered a area or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive king was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his service in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

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

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.