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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while an associate beamed suggestively in the rear.

Without that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who said she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had publicly asserted to have never known about her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, talk of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly invited them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in public records: private aircraft travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least complete and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of titles and the continued and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's large estate at Sandringham.

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

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of designations was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are considered essential, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.