🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of family funds to resolve a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the loss of designations and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.