Folly and Monarchical Hubris Sunk Andrew, and It Could Continue Yet

This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have never been aware of her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's resources to avert a long-delayed court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded deference when he appeared in a room or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of titles and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first member to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at Sandringham.

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

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.