🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a solitary photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate grinned suggestively in the background.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

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

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of titles and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.