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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, indicative action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a protracted court action.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the famously hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his service in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.