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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing action by someone who had openly asserted to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of family money to resolve a protracted court action.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the presumption which expected deference when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely 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 connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

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

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

Consequences

Finally, the famously uncertain monarch was pressured further. There was no other option. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and lifetime social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first royal to lose his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he encounters still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of titles was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.