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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were documented in public records: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which required respect when he walked into a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The statement from the palace was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's account of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.