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It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

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

Absent that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, indicative gesture by someone who had openly stated to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's resources to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals understood that. The key objective is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their people.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the loss of designations and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably hurtful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but none of these will truly happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

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

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the palace was plainly that the removal of titles was what the sovereign, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the short communication showed evidently that the institution were siding with the victim's version of incidents.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.