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

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the rear.

Without that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have no heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: private aircraft flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he entered a area or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser family members realized that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pushed additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first royal to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed evidently that the royals were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.