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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion smiled knowingly in the background.

Lacking that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal family?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which required deference when he walked into a room or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously hesitant sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

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

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary monarch to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Mr,

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

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

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise communication showed clearly that the royals were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.