🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion smiled knowingly in the rear.

Without that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had publicly claimed to have no been aware of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Scandal

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which required subservience when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

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

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Now it is the loss of designations and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large property at a royal residence.

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

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed plainly that the royals were supporting the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.