🔗 Share this article

It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Earl of Inverness, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to settle a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable 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 documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known indecisive king was pushed additional. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Notably painful given his role in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the complainant's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.