Stupidity and Monarchical Hubris Damaged Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had openly stated to have not heard of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: chopper travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which expected respect when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

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

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of designations and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his service in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The statement from the institution was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short communication showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.