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

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have never known about her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family resources to avert a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in official documents: chopper flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which expected deference when he entered a room or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

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

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.