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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Lacking that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had openly stated to have never heard of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he appeared in a room or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

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

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

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known hesitant king was pressured additional. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the loss of titles and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to lose his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed evidently that the royals were supporting the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.