🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of family money to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously hesitant sovereign was prodded further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.