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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate smiled knowingly in the background.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required deference when he appeared in a area or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first member to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a royal residence.

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

This differs from his former home, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the institution was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the victims: "These actions are judged required, despite the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

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