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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A curious, revealing action by someone who had publicly stated to have never heard of her, claimed he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's funds to avert a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional image of Andrew walking congenially with a notorious individual emerged.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of biographical works giving more grim particulars of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The wiser monarchical figures understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least complete and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when respect and discretion is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain monarch was pressured more. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the story.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his service in the engagement

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of financial support.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The message from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the short statement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the accuser's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and indolence that will kill the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that lesson.