🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had publicly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions 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 image, and another image of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required deference when he entered a room or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of titles and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial member to surrender his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large property at Sandringham.

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

This is not his former home, 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 far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.