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It all began with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Without that photograph, shot at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he appeared in a area or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pressured further. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his service in the engagement

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

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were siding with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.