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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a teenager who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had overtly claimed to have no known about her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of family money to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the majority of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required deference when he entered a room or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the release of biographical works giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

People (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

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

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their citizens.

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

Consequences

Eventually, the famously uncertain monarch was pressured more. There was no alternative. The palace had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to surrender his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Can persons he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Mr,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast property at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and notably other senior family members, sought.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's narrative of events.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.