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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly claimed to have no known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: chopper flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously uncertain sovereign was prodded more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief statement showed plainly that the institution were siding with the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.