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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical resources to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in public records: chopper travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he entered a room or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive king was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the institution was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief communication showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's version of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.