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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which demanded respect when he entered a space or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of designations and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary member to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

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

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed clearly that the monarchy were supporting the victim's account of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.