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This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Without that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling move by someone who had publicly claimed to have not heard of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family money to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were listed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which expected deference when he appeared in a area or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

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

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Currently the loss of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to lose his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the royal household was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's account of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.