🔗 Share this article Stupidity and Monarchical Hubris Damaged Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household. There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the background. Lacking that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline? A strange, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out legal case. Years of Disgrace Considering this, talk of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light. Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous? Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences. Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money. Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer". A Life of Privilege Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his associates. He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago. Recent Developments Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his associates. Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual. People (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance. Monarchical Concerns The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained. Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their citizens. He was placing all that in danger in an age when submission and privacy is no longer adequate. Aftermath Finally, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative. Currently the stripping of designations and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most. Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era Military Service: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly happen. Future Prospects Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew, Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham. In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend. This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance. Pending Matters The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public. Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers demand more Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of state resources Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the removal of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, wanted. Changed Stance The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of events. Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him." In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.