🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family funds to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a space or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Finally, the famously uncertain sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the story.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his service in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

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

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

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short communication showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.