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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate smiled suggestively in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have not heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to avert a long-delayed legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were documented in royal annual reports: chopper flights from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which expected subservience when he walked into a room or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute family members understood that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive king was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he encounters still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's extensive property at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort 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 remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise statement showed plainly that the institution were supporting the accuser's narrative of events.

Furthermore, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the victims: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that reality.