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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was moved across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory relations with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have no been aware of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Journeys were documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals understood that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive king was pressured further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the account.

Currently the removal of titles and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

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

In that place, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.