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LONDON \u2014 What do you do when a member of your firm becomes a liability? And what if that person is your brother?<\/p>\n
King Charles has taken the extraordinary step of stripping the title of prince<\/a> from Andrew, his younger brother by two years, and booting him out of his grace-and-favor mansion in Windsor. The action follows allegations of sexual assault.\u00a0<\/p>\n The monarch\u2019s decision comes despite Andrew only two weeks ago volunteering to relinquish the majority of his royal titles, including no longer being referred to as the Duke of York.\u00a0<\/p>\n But after weeks of fresh revelations over his relationship with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Charles has distanced himself further from Andrew. The 65-year-old, who had already ceased being a working royal and will now be known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, has denied the allegations against him.<\/p>\n Ahmad Alnajadah<\/a>, assistant professor in business at Northeastern University in London, says the latest move in the handling of Andrew\u2019s saga is a \u201cfascinating case study in brand damage control\u201d when a high-profile figure becomes a liability.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is absolutely about brand preservation,\u201d says Alnajadah. \u201cThe Royal Family is one of the world\u2019s most recognized brands, centered on duty, service, tradition and selfless commitment to the nation and Commonwealth.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re clearly attempting to create distance between the institution and Andrew\u2019s controversies. By removing his titles and patronages, they\u2019re essentially executing a classic brand protection strategy \u2013 severing the formal association before reputational damage spreads further to the monarchy itself.\u201d<\/p>\n The British Royal Family is far from the first to act in this way, points out Alnajadah.<\/p>\n Jared Fogle had been the primary spokesman for sandwich chain Subway when his charges<\/a> for child sex tourism and child pornography came to light in 2015. The company cut ties immediately, says Alnajadah, and scrubbed him from all advertising.<\/p>\n Papa John\u2019s was also quick to distance itself from founder John Schnatter<\/a>, erasing him from the pizza chain\u2019s logo, after he used a racial slur. Nike terminated its long-standing endorsement deal with cyclist Lance Armstrong after his doping scandal.<\/p>\n \u201cThe pattern is clear,\u201d adds Alnajahah. \u201cWhen a figurehead becomes a reputational liability, brands act swiftly to minimize contamination of the broader brand equity.\u201d<\/p>\n David Mitchell<\/a>, an associate professor in philosophy, says the accusations against Andrew, which he has denied, are \u201cunbecoming of anyone,\u201d not just a prince, and have likely been \u201cacutely embarrassing\u201d for the royal family.<\/p>\n \u201cIf part of the monarch\u2019s role, and to a lesser extent that of his family,\u201d he says, \u201cis to offer moral leadership and symbolize collective values, then this amounts to substantial damage.\u201d<\/p>\n For Andrew to have his prince title taken away, a constitutional process is required, says Ursula Smartt<\/a>, an associate professor in law on Northeastern\u2019s London campus.<\/p>\n Buckingham Palace confirmed on Friday that the King had signed a warrant to strip his brother of his royal titles. That has gone to Lord Chancellor David Lammy, explains Smartt, in an act that has struck Andrew off the official roll of the peerage, where he had been listed as the Duke of York.<\/p>\n Andrew will be given a place to live at Sandringham, a private royal estate in the east of England, and his living will be privately funded by the King. He remains eighth in the line of succession<\/a>.<\/p>\n For Sara Rye, the plan of action announced by the Palace was a \u201cclassic example of crisis management\u201d that any major company would carry out in a bid to address a media storm.<\/p>\n Rye, a Global Fellow<\/a> with Northeastern University\u2019s Humanities Center and an expert on crisis management, said the firestorm engulfing the royals is particularly interesting because \u201cit combines elements of public relations and also has the internal family company dynamic\u201d.<\/p>\n The first step in a crisis of this type is to make an immediate assessment, she explains, to understand any reputational or legal harm that has occurred as a result of the reporting around Andrew and his associations.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then you look at the internal communication, so that you are clear that the stakeholders \u2014 in this case, the family and their advisers \u2014 are aligned with the message you want to send,\u201d continues Rye.<\/p>\n The next stage is to pull together an external communication strategy to ensure the organization is speaking \u201cas one entity\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n Once the response is out in the open, it is a case of tracking what is said in the mainstream media and social media platforms to \u201crespond to any misinformation or escalate issues promptly\u201d. These are patterns followed in major crises in industry, ranging from the Volkswagen emissions controversy to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.K.-based researcher adds.<\/p>\n Rye suggests that the two-step process in dealing with Andrew may have been a deliberate exercise as part of the royals\u2019 crisis management plan.<\/p>\n On Oct. 17, Andrew said he would stop using titles such as the Duke of York because the \u201ccontinued accusations about me distract from the work of His Majesty and the Royal Family\u201d<\/p>\n But the Daily Mail reported<\/a> that Prince William, the future king, did not feel that the change went far enough. A constant stream of press attention also dogged Andrew, a father-of-two and Falkland\u2019s war veteran who was once said to be Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s favored child, about his \u201cpeppercorn rent\u201d living arrangements<\/a> and links with Epstein.<\/p>\n The BBC reported that he had hosted<\/a> Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell<\/a> \u2014 who is in jail after being found guilty of child sex trafficking for Epstein \u2014 and disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein at his Windsor home, Royal Lodge, in 2006, two months after a U.S. arrest warrant had been issued for Epstein for the sexual assault of a minor.<\/p>\n It is not uncommon, says Rye, for a company to announce one plan of action and assess its public reaction before deciding whether to go further in an attempt to \u201cmitigate the risk progressively\u201d. The latest announcement removing Andrew as a prince is an attempt to show the strength of feeling in the royal family, she points out.<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019ve come out and said, he is going to leave the property, have his prince title removed and we sympathize with all victims of abuse,\u201d says Rye.<\/p>\n \u201cTo be honest, it was quite a harsh statement \u2014 but correctly. I applaud them for being so brave. I think it was to show that they are holding him to account.\u201d<\/p>\n