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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion smiled suggestively in the background.

Without that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had openly stated to have no known about her, claimed he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of family funds to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and attentive to their people.

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

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was prodded additional. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the loss of honorifics and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but neither of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, 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.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Might parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise statement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's version of events.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.