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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the rear.

Without that image, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had publicly stated to have never been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family funds to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

In this context, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were printed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which demanded subservience when he walked into a space or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously hesitant king was pushed additional. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the story.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial member to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his role in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the hands of US Congress to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is restricted. The message from the palace was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short communication showed clearly that the institution were siding with the victim's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have understood that reality.