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It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate smiled suggestively in the rear.

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling action by someone who had openly asserted to have no known about her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were listed in public records: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which demanded subservience when he walked into a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously uncertain king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the removal of honorifics and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of private allowance.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The statement from the palace was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the brief communication showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.