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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate grinned suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a young woman who stated she was transported across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have not known about her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of monarchical funds to resolve a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with state resources.

Journeys were documented in official documents: chopper flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the entitlement which required subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim details of his conduct and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any significance to speak up for him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser family members recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known indecisive monarch was pushed more. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the loss of honorifics and the ongoing and lifetime personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to lose his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he encounters still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

It is not his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Political Pressure: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The statement from the institution was plainly that the removal of designations was what the sovereign, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's account of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and inactivity that will undermine the institution. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have grasped that lesson.