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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to settle a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, talk of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in public records: chopper travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded deference when he walked into a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was prodded more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of titles and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.