🔗 Share this article

This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was transported across the ocean and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had publicly stated to have no known about her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which demanded deference when he appeared in a area or the profound awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when respect and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his duty in the conflict

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.