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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who said she was moved across the sea and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, telling move by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were documented in official documents: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain monarch was pressured additional. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of titles and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Notably painful given his service in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

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

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's version of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.