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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual grinned suggestively in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of family funds to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Currently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary member to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

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

It is not his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the victims: "These actions are judged required, despite the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.