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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A curious, telling action by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical resources to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in public records: private aircraft travel from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which demanded deference when he walked into a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks 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 accelerated, following the publication of books giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals understood that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

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

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded further. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of titles and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the accuser's version of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.