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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have no heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over millions of family money to settle a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in public records: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pushed more. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary member to lose his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.