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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A curious, telling move by someone who had publicly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the entitlement which required respect when he entered a room or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, dutiful and attentive to their people.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first member to forfeit his titles in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the present the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed consideration for the survivors: "The measures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will kill the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.