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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family resources to settle a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the arrogance which required respect when he appeared in a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when submission and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

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

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the institution were siding with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the victims: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.