🔗 Share this article Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Damaged Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member. There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion grinned knowingly in the backdrop. Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family? An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly claimed to have no been aware of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family funds to avert a long-delayed court action. Years of Disgrace Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light. Self-importance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous? Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to royal residences. Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources. Journeys were listed in official documents: chopper transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy". Existence of Entitlement Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends. He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago. Latest Events Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his connections. Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a notorious figure. The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris. Monarchical Concerns The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least intact and unstained. They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people. His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate. The Fallout Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was pressured further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative. Presently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply. Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner Prior Instance: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era Naval Career: Especially stinging given his duty in the conflict He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually happen. What Lies Ahead Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew, Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast property at a royal residence. There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of personal stipend. This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance. Outstanding Concerns The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed. Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament demand more Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of state resources Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired. Altered Approach The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were siding with the accuser's version of occurrences. Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him." Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.