What Does the Prince Andrew Scandal Really Mean for the Monarchy?

After serving in the Falkland War, Prince Andrew spoke to media on the islands about his involvement as a helicopter pilot in June 1982. “She was pretty surprised to hear from me,” he recalled, recalling how he had recently phoned Buckingham Palace and gotten hold of his mother. “She did suggest that if I met anybody here, particularly on the ships, to pass on her very best and tell how very proud she is of everybody.” Three months later, he returned to a hero’s welcome in Portsmouth, where he was famously photographed with a rose in his teeth alongside the Queen.

For many years, Prince Andrew has been portrayed as a daring combat hero, producing loving headlines with insight from the monarchy’s bosom. Even for those who remember him as the contentious and flamboyant “Air Miles Andy”—a popular moniker in the noughties for his expensive globe-trotting—the enormity of his sudden demise is still palpable.

Today, he finds himself, quite literally, as a poster boy for the abolition of the monarchy. Republic, a campaign organisation, has plastered his visage on billboards across the United Kingdom to promote their drive for an elected head of state. According to recent research, 81 percent of the British public dislikes him, and 70 percent believe Virginia Giuffre’s allegations of sexual abuse against him (which he has consistently denied) have harmed the monarchy “very lot” or “somewhat.” The royal family is so concerned about the royal family’s reputation that they have cut him off publicly in almost every way possible. They have underlined that he is defending the civil case as a “private citizen.” No one will address him as His Royal Highness.

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