Folly and Monarchical Hubris Ruined Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have no known about her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical resources to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were printed in official documents: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required subservience when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and responsive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded more. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his role in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but not any of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

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

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.