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

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion beamed suggestively in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a young woman who said she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had overtly asserted to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of monarchical resources to avert a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the entitlement which demanded respect when he walked into a room or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, as revealed, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of books giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The primary concern is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, responsible and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial member to surrender his designations in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially painful given his service in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but none of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast estate at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment 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 files in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior family members, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have grasped that reality.