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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's funds to settle a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were printed in public records: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the profound consciousness about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of accounts giving more grim information of his actions and that of his connections.

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

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The censures are considered essential, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.