🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had publicly asserted to have no known about her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical resources to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in public records: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pressured further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the loss of designations and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

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

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

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the palace was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the victim's account of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, despite the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.