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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that image, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of family money to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were printed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the presumption which expected deference when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously uncertain king was pressured further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Presently the stripping of designations and the persistent and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first member to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The message from the institution was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The measures are considered essential, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the institution. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.