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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most consequential ever taken of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual beamed knowingly in the background.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who declared she was transported across the ocean and forced to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had openly stated to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

In this context, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable friends given he unabashedly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the presumption which required deference when he appeared in a space or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his interaction with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far in advance of the royals. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Royal Worries

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when respect and privacy is no longer sufficient.

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Currently the loss of titles and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Particularly hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He remains a royal advisor, theoretically able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

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

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of private allowance.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and especially other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the short communication showed clearly that the royals were supporting the complainant's account of occurrences.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the monarchy. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have understood that truth.