🔗 Share this article

It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had openly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in public records: helicopter 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 comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which expected deference when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

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

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's narrative of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.