🔗 Share this article Stupidity and Royal Self-Entitlement Damaged Andrew, and It Might Persist Yet This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy. Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed suggestively in the background. Without that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was transported across the sea and obliged to have brief relations with a member of the royal family? An odd, telling action by someone who had openly claimed to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to resolve a long-delayed legal case. Years of Scandal In this context, talk of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged. Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous? Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly welcomed them to estates. Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources. Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer". A Life of Privilege Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he appeared in a room or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates. He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago. Latest Events Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his companions. Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual. The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption. Monarchical Concerns The more astute royals recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished. For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their citizens. His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient. Consequences Finally, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative. Currently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply. Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor Past Example: The primary monarch to lose his honorifics in modern times Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually occur. Coming Developments Can persons he meets still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Mr, Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a monarchical property. There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of personal stipend. It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough. Unresolved Issues Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed. Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of state resources Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted. Changed Stance No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed clearly that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences. Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the allegations against him." Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.