🔗 Share this article

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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who said she was transported across the sea and forced to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's money to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in official documents: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously uncertain sovereign was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to lose his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the institution was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.