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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion smiled knowingly in the background.

Lacking that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the sea and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had overtly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which expected deference when he walked into a room or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably painful given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

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

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.