Stupidity and Monarchical Hubris Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who said she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had overtly stated to have no heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of family funds to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his companions.

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

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the loss of designations and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.