🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had openly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical funds to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he appeared in a room or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Finally, the well-known hesitant monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the loss of titles and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the victim's version of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.