This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.
There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.
Absent that image, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who said she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?
A strange, telling action by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family money to avert a protracted court action.
Over a Decade of Controversy
Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.
- Hubris: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
- Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
- Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.
Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".
Existence of Entitlement
Then there was the entitlement which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.
He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.
Latest Events
Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.
Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.
The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.
Institutional Fears
The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.
For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.
Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.
The Fallout
Finally, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the story.
Currently the removal of honorifics and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.
- Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
- Historical Precedent: The initial royal to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
- Military Service: Notably stinging given his role in the engagement
He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will truly happen.
Coming Developments
Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,
Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large estate 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 private allowance.
It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.
Outstanding Concerns
The situation continues. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be revealed.
- Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators demand more
- Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
- Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct
Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.
A Shift in Position
The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's version of events.
Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, despite the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."
Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.
