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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

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

Absent that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to settle a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly invited them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he appeared in a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

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

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, accountable and attentive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his service in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The message from the palace was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.