🔗 Share this article

It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Without that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical funds to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which expected respect when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in peril in an age when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the stripping of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.