Foolishness and Royal Self-Entitlement Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have never known about her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's funds to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pressured further. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of designations and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the complainant's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.