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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he walked into a area or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when submission and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was prodded further. There was no alternative. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

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

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's large grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The statement from the palace was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.