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

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was transported across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have no heard of her, said he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's funds to avert a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in public records: chopper flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which expected respect when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his friends.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could get away with lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of earlier rulers, showing they are valuable, responsible and reactive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first monarch to surrender his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

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

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will lawmakers demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Perhaps for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is restricted. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise communication showed plainly that the institution were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

In the end it is arrogance, selfishness and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.