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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that image, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have not heard of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical funds to avert a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he walked into a area or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pressured additional. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

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

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his designations in recent history
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the institution was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.