Folly and Regal Arrogance Ruined Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet

It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of family funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and privacy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the stripping of designations and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is contained. The statement from the institution was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short communication showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.