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

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual grinned suggestively in the background.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical resources to resolve a protracted court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required deference when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known uncertain king was prodded further. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's large grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short communication showed evidently that the royals were supporting the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.