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

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed suggestively in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had openly asserted to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to resolve a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another image of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, maybe even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were listed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he entered a area or the supreme obsession about his royal titles used on his correspondence in communication to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could get away with lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the media) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members understood that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously uncertain king was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Currently the stripping of titles and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

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

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the victim's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.