Stupidity and Monarchical Hubris Sunk Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's money to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, conversations of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

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

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the removal of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive property at Sandringham.

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

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

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.