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

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had publicly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical funds to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pushed additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the account.

Now it is the loss of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial monarch to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his role in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.