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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's funds to settle a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he appeared in a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more grim details of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was prodded more. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.