🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate smiled suggestively in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had openly claimed to have not been aware of her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (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.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members realized that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment 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 documents in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will kill the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.