🔗 Share this article

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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that image, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family resources to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which expected respect when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously indecisive sovereign was pressured more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first member to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his role in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.