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The saga started with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have never been aware of her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required deference when he entered a space or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his connections.

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

People (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, 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 valuable, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pressured more. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Notably painful given his service in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The statement from the palace was clearly that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the institution. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.