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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family resources to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Travel were documented in public records: chopper transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the presumption which required subservience when he walked into a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, accountable and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously indecisive king was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial member to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

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

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

Unresolved Issues

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the institution is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the revocation of honorifics was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.