🔗 Share this article Foolishness and Regal Arrogance Sunk Andrew, and It May Not Be Over Yet It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household. Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the background. Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family? An odd, telling gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to avert a drawn-out legal case. A Long Period of Scandal In this context, conversations of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged. Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled? Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates. Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money. Trips were printed in official documents: chopper transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast". World of Deference Additionally the entitlement which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances. He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago. Latest Events Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of books giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his companions. Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal. The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance. Royal Worries The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished. For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their subjects. Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer enough. The Fallout Ultimately, the well-known uncertain sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative. Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most. Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen Past Example: The primary member to surrender his titles in recent history Armed Forces: Notably painful given his service in the engagement He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly come to pass. What Lies Ahead Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr, Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a royal residence. There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support. It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough. Unresolved Issues This is not over. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be made public. Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators demand more Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted. Changed Stance No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents. Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him." Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.