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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual beamed suggestively in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative action by someone who had overtly claimed to have no been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of family money to settle a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his siblings, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the entitlement which expected subservience when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser royals realized that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the famously uncertain sovereign was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Presently the loss of designations and the persistent and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary royal to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a royal advisor, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the crown is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short announcement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.