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It all began with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the ocean and forced to have cursory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had overtly stated to have no known about her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family funds to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which expected respect when he walked into a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an time when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief statement showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.