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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a young woman who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

A strange, telling move by someone who had openly stated to have no known about her, claimed he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to resolve a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were printed in official documents: chopper flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when deference and privacy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was prodded more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the removal of titles and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will kill the monarchy. In his folly, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.