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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual smiled suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that image, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have cursory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, telling move by someone who had overtly claimed to have not heard of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of family resources to avert a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were printed in public records: chopper flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which expected respect when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as previously at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when deference and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of titles and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

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.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the removal of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of incidents.

Additionally, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.