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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly stated to have never known about her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of family money to avert a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in official documents: helicopter flights 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".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary member to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at a royal residence.

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

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

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.