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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the sea and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative gesture by someone who had publicly asserted to have no known about her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of family funds to avert a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, possibly even his parents, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were listed in public records: chopper flights from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which demanded deference when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any importance to support him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and untarnished.

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

His actions endangered all that in danger in an time when respect and discretion is no longer sufficient.

Consequences

Eventually, the well-known indecisive monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The initial royal to surrender his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his duty in the engagement

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Of course, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at a royal residence.

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

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The narrative from the institution was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief statement showed clearly that the royals were aligning with the accuser's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that truth.