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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

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

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had overtly claimed to have not heard of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which expected respect when he entered a room or the profound awareness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

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

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members understood that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an age when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously indecisive king was prodded further. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

An end to illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the victim's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.