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

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a teenage girl, while another individual smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a member of the monarchy?

An odd, telling move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the extreme obsession about his honorifics used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least remove him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when respect and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was prodded additional. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to forfeit his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his service in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the present the harm to the monarchy to the crown is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the complainant's account of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they finally showed regard for the victims: "The measures are judged required, despite the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and indolence that will undermine the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that truth.