SARAH VINE: This is what the future now holds for Andrew Mountbatten Windsor

Given that it’s Halloween, aka witch season, it’s worth noting that the commoner formerly known as Prince Andrew appears to be suffering from what’s known in some circles as a ‘Tower’ moment.

In Tarot, the Tower card represents a sudden and inevitable moment of violent disruption, the destruction of long-held beliefs, the destruction of previously indisputable certainties.

It is often interpreted as some kind of reckoning, a fall from grace, and its effects are rapid and devastating.

The card itself suggests this: two distraught figures, one wearing a crown, are depicted falling or being thrown from a collapsing and burning tower, with a bolt of lightning striking the roof, a crown that is dislodged and falls to the ground again, somewhat dramatically given the circumstances.

Whether you believe in such things or not, the references are eerily accurate. In a few short weeks, Andrew had lost his titles, his home, his family, and his entire sense of identity. He was thrown from the high heights of the revered royal family to the hard and cold ground below; here he is, for all intents and purposes, lying there now and wondering what hit him. That’s one of the most surprising things about this whole saga: How could he not have seen this coming? But apparently he didn’t.

Maybe he thought his brother didn’t have that quality; Maybe he really thought he hadn’t done anything wrong. Either way, he got a huge wake-up call.

I’ve said this before, and it bears repeating: Andrew was not convicted of any crime. Technically he didn’t do anything illegal (as far as we know). In the eyes of the law he remains an innocent man.

However, he still faced and continues to face serious allegations. Scandal and dirt seem to follow him wherever he goes (and let’s not forget the whole incident with the Chinese spy). Over the years he has had ample opportunity to defend his actions and associations. However, his response strengthened the prosecution’s case each time.

In Tarot, the Tower is an unlucky card and is often interpreted as a showdown of some kind.

From her arrogant denial of Virginia Giuffre’s accusations to her repeated attempts to hide the truth about the nature of her relationship with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein, it all somehow adds up to a very sordid picture of a very capricious life.

If you’re an average Joe, your average spiv, that’s one thing. But that won’t work if you’re the prince of the realm. You can’t have all this privilege without taking on some of the responsibility. It’s not clear.

And there is no doubt that Andrew behaved appallingly by any standard, let alone a royal.

Yet he still has supporters; mostly men (funny, that), but there are them too. They state that it is not a crime to be friends with a convicted sex offender, and this is of course true.

They say it’s an unfortunate coincidence that you invited three people imprisoned for sex crimes (Harvey Weinstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein) to your daughter’s birthday party. This may also be true. They emphasize that being photographed with your arm around someone does not mean you are having sex with them. This is absolutely true.

But it wouldn’t make sense if you later claimed on national television that you had never met the girl, but it turned out you had passed her details on to your protection officer, as The Mail revealed on Sunday.

When you claim to have cut off all contact with Epstein, but it was also revealed by this newspaper that you sent e-mails such as ‘we will play some more soon’, you cannot expect people not to interpret this as extremely suspicious. Especially when you’ve paid millions to buy the silence of this girl you’ve never met.

Even if Andrew is innocent of the specific allegations as he claims, the overall situation still reeks of scandal and moral bankruptcy. His brother King Charles had to make a decision and he did the right thing. When a branch rots, you have to cut it off, otherwise the whole tree will eventually wither and die.

King Charles had to make a decision and he made the right one. When a branch rots, you have to cut it off, otherwise the whole tree will eventually wither and die.

In her recently published posthumous memoir, Virginia Giuffre repeated claims that Andrew was trafficked for sex on three separate occasions.

But all may not be lost yet for Andrew. This could still be his doing. Unless more troubling truths come to light, he has the opportunity to leave behind the arrogant, arrogant, boorish man that was former Prince Andrew and build a better life as Mr. Mountbatten Windsor.

We all experience Tower moments in our lives. I’ve had a few myself, and each one seemed like the end of it all. But the truth is that these changes in your destiny can turn into moments of great personal growth if you are willing to accept the lessons they teach you.

Every time I was figuratively thrown from my high tower, it taught me some precious and valuable things.

necessary lessons about myself, my failures, my mistakes, my arrogance. Ultimately, these experiences encouraged me to try harder to do better.

I learned who my real friends are and what is truly important to me. I have learned to walk away from people and situations that are not good for me. I’ve learned that it’s entirely possible to be happy with the blessings you have, instead of constantly striving for more.

Of course, I had to endure humiliation, heartache, and several long, dark nights of the soul to get to this point. But it was worth it.

And if Andrew embraces his new reality with the right attitude, who knows, he too might grow and learn from his mistakes. It won’t be easy. But he is faced with a choice: either live his life in angry loneliness and pain, or find a way to save himself without making excuses or taking the easy way out, as he always does.

Besides, it’s not that bad. There are worse situations than a country house on private land in one of Norfolk’s most beautiful parts.

Life at Sandringham isn’t hard. He’ll have a roof over his head and food in his belly. And if that’s good enough for Prince Philip, who lives in the mansion when he retires, it will be more than satisfactory for his wayward son. Of course, it’s very different from what he’s used to, but by most people’s standards, he’s still very, very lucky. In fact, by the standards of most royals who have reason to annoy their relatives, she’s absolutely blessed.

After all, King Henry I stole Normandy from his brother and imprisoned him for 30 years; Edward IV had his brother George, Duke of Clarence, executed for treason; Queen Mary did the same to her cousin, Lady Jane Grey; and then III. There was all that business about Richard and the princes in the tower.

Not only is Andrew’s head still tightly tied to his neck, but

It also remains free. both

If you ask me, these are reasons to be grateful and a good place to start on the long climb to dignity.