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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion grinned conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that image, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have cursory relations with a member of the royal family?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have never heard of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his connections.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded more. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the story.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his service in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.