🔗 Share this article

It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who said she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing action by someone who had publicly asserted to have not known about her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's funds to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Journeys were printed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

People (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive king was pushed additional. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, despite the fact that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.