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

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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, revealing action by someone who had publicly claimed to have never heard of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which expected deference when he entered a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.