🔗 Share this article

The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have brief relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing action by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he entered a area or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

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

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and responsive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pressured additional. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.