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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that photograph, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had publicly stated to have no known about her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which expected deference when he appeared in a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pressured further. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first member to lose his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished 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 minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Might legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.