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

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a teenager who declared she was moved across the Atlantic and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

A curious, telling action by someone who had publicly claimed to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family resources to resolve a protracted legal case.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which demanded deference when he walked into a area or the profound consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim details of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

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

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously uncertain sovereign was prodded additional. There was no other option. The institution had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the loss of designations and the continued and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first member to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Notably stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will truly happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

It is not his previous residence, 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 sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Could legislators request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The statement from the palace was clearly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short statement showed evidently that the royals were siding with the accuser's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are judged required, despite the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-interest and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.