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The saga started with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had publicly stated to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of monarchical resources to settle a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he appeared in a room or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least whole and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and responsive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was pressured more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first royal to surrender his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's large property at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be provided 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 payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Changed Stance

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

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.