🔗 Share this article

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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that image, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who declared she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had publicly asserted to have not known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: 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 "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which required subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Finally, the well-known hesitant king was pressured further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of titles and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast property at a monarchical property.

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

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.