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The saga started with a isolated photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual grinned knowingly in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had overtly claimed to have no heard of her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and a further snapshot of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Self-importance: For what duration did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in official documents: chopper transfers from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still surviving. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any importance to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when submission and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the famously hesitant king was prodded more. There was no alternative. The institution had relinquished authority of the story.

Presently the removal of designations and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to surrender his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his service in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but neither of these will actually come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Might they still slip up and call him Sir? Might they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

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

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief communication showed evidently that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they ultimately showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.