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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual smiled suggestively in the background.

Absent that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no been aware of her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical funds to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were printed in official documents: chopper travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which required subservience when he appeared in a area or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his connections.

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

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and reactive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously indecisive sovereign was prodded further. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the present the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.