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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate grinned suggestively in the background.

Without that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who said she was transported across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not heard of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical resources to avert a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his family members, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which expected respect when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when submission and discretion is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain king was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the loss of designations and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is contained. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short communication showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.