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The saga started with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have never known about her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive king was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to lose his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still records in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.