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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who said she was moved across the sea and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have no known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to settle a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were listed in public records: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a space or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more grim information of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

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

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the famously indecisive sovereign was pressured further. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large property at a royal residence.

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

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

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.