🔗 Share this article Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a royal family member. Present was the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual grinned suggestively in the rear. Without that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family? An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case. Years of Disgrace Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light. Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous? Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly hosted them to royal residences. Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources. Trips were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy". Existence of Entitlement Furthermore the arrogance which expected respect when he appeared in a room or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances. He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago. Current Situation Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his connections. Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal. The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris. Institutional Fears The more intelligent family members understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained. For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their subjects. He was placing all that in danger in an age when deference and discretion is no longer adequate. Consequences Eventually, the notoriously hesitant monarch was pushed additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative. Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply. Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen Historical Precedent: The initial royal to lose his titles in recent history Naval Career: Particularly painful given his duty in the engagement He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will ever occur. Coming Developments Will people he encounters still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr, Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive estate at Sandringham. In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance. It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed. Pending Matters The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be revealed. Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators seek further action Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of public money Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The statement from the institution was clearly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, wanted. Changed Stance The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the institution were siding with the complainant's version of occurrences. Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the victims: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him." In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.