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The saga started with a isolated photograph, perhaps 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 an associate smiled suggestively in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who stated she was transported across the sea and forced to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, telling move by someone who had openly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family money to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he entered a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, accountable and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded more. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his service in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still show respect to him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of private allowance.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The statement from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the victim's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that reality.