Folly and Monarchical Hubris Ruined Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

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

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family resources to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary monarch to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his role in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

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

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.