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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of family funds to settle a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a space or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Eventually, the famously uncertain monarch was pressured more. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial member to lose his titles in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

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

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.