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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had openly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's money to resolve a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant king was pressured further. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first member to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large property at a monarchical property.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the palace was clearly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the accuser's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.