🔗 Share this article

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

Present was the Earl of Inverness, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have no known about her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical funds to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were documented in public records: chopper transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he appeared in a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known uncertain king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of designations and the continued and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.