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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the sea and compelled to have cursory relations with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which required subservience when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when deference and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously uncertain king was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the royals were supporting the complainant's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.