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

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have brief relations with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had openly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded respect when he walked into a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of designations and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

Coming Developments

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the palace was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the victims: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.