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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the rear.

Absent that photograph, taken at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had openly claimed to have no been aware of her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical resources to settle a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the entitlement which demanded deference when he entered a space or the supreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his associates.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their people.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the famously hesitant king was pressured more. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Currently the removal of designations and the ongoing and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to surrender his designations in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his service in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, 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 Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's large property at a royal residence.

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

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of US Congress to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise statement showed plainly that the monarchy were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.