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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have not heard of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's resources to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew walking amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The wiser family members understood that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially painful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will truly happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the institution were supporting the complainant's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that truth.