Folly and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet

It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have brief relations with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had publicly stated to have not heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical money to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when deference and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain monarch was pressured further. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

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

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.