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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Without that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had openly asserted to have never been aware of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of family money to avert a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which expected deference when he walked into a area or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to forfeit his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably painful given his duty in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's large grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the victim's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.