🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded respect when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pressured additional. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Might parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.