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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was moved across the sea and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical money to avert a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: chopper flights from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he appeared in a area or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing details of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals realized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain monarch was prodded more. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the continued and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably painful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

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

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The statement from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.