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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Without that photograph, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, discussions of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Trips were printed in public records: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he appeared in a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

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

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously indecisive king was pressured additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the story.

Presently the loss of designations and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large estate at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, 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.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief statement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.