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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing action by someone who had openly claimed to have never heard of her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical funds to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew strolling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were printed in public records: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which expected deference when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his connections.

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

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known uncertain sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first member to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from 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 adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might parliament demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.