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It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's funds to settle a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded deference when he entered a room or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was pushed additional. There was little choice. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his role in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's large grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the removal of honorifics was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short statement showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.