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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have no been aware of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family resources to resolve a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were listed in official documents: private aircraft 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 convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a area or the profound awareness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the monarchy. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals recognized that. The primary concern is to pass on the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but none of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Could legislators request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the accuser's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.