Stupidity and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

The saga started with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's money to avert a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends 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 overspending with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: chopper flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and attentive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Especially painful given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.