Stupidity and Royal Self-Entitlement Sunk Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have not known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the loss of titles and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive property at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the royals were siding with the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.