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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have never been aware of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family money to resolve a protracted legal case.

Years of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he appeared in a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and privacy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously hesitant sovereign was prodded further. There was no alternative. The palace had lost control of the story.

Presently the stripping of titles and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

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

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short communication showed evidently that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.