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

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who stated she was moved across the sea and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were printed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which demanded respect when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

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

Royal Worries

The wiser family members realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when deference and privacy is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Eventually, the famously uncertain monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary member to lose his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large estate at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The statement from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.