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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had openly asserted to have no known about her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's money to settle a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Now it is the removal of titles and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.