🔗 Share this article

It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion beamed knowingly in the background.

Absent that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had openly stated to have no heard of her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to resolve a protracted legal case.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded deference when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more grim details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of designations and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first member to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's large estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, 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 documents in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short statement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.