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It all began with a isolated photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had publicly claimed to have not heard of her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family funds to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which required deference when he entered a space or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, proving they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

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

Consequences

Finally, the famously uncertain king was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the account.

Now it is the removal of titles and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive estate at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the royals were supporting the victim's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.