🔗 Share this article Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Damaged Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet It all began with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member. There stood the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the rear. Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family? A strange, telling action by someone who had openly claimed to have not heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed lawsuit. Over a Decade of Scandal Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual surfaced. Arrogance: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant? Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences. Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money. Trips were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast". Existence of Entitlement Then there was the entitlement which expected deference when he walked into a room or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his friends. He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago. Latest Events Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more grim information of his actions and that of his associates. Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure. Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance. Institutional Fears The wiser family members recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished. Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, accountable and responsive to their citizens. His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and privacy is no longer adequate. Aftermath Eventually, the well-known uncertain king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account. Now it is the stripping of titles and the continued and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most. Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner Prior Instance: The primary royal to surrender his designations in modern times Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur. Future Prospects Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew, Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham. At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend. This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough. Pending Matters This is not over. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed. Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of public money Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired. Changed Stance The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's account of incidents. Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him." Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.