🔗 Share this article

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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had overtly claimed to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to resolve a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a area or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was prodded more. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his service in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the victim's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.