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This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly asserted to have never been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical funds to settle a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair 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.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he unabashedly welcomed them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in royal annual reports: chopper travel 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 "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which expected deference when he appeared in a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was pushed more. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly painful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at Sandringham.

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

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.