Stupidity and Royal Self-Entitlement Damaged Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: chopper transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded respect when he entered a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain sovereign was pressured further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.