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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a female youth, while a companion grinned knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have not heard of her, claimed he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter transfers from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a area or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known uncertain king was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the account.

Currently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his duty in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will actually happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were supporting the complainant's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the victims: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.