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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who stated she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have brief relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the extreme awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the famously indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

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

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

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

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

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.