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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most consequential ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a female youth, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the ocean and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly asserted to have never heard of her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family funds to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Self-importance: How long did his family members, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were listed in public records: chopper flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he walked into a room or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, showing they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when deference and discretion is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain sovereign was pressured further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first royal to lose his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the short statement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.