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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the palace was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.