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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, telling move by someone who had overtly claimed to have not heard of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Furthermore the entitlement which required subservience when he walked into a space or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain king was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

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

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The statement from the palace was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.