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

It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have brief relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had overtly stated to have never known about her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's resources to resolve a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded additional. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of titles and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed clearly that the institution were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.