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

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

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical money to avert a protracted legal case.

Years of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which demanded deference when he appeared in a space or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously uncertain king was pushed more. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.