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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling move by someone who had publicly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which required subservience when he appeared in a room or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary member to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast estate at a royal residence.

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

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise communication showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.