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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had openly asserted to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a area or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of designations and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

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

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign 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 area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.