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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the background.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, revealing move 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 family funds to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and a further photo of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which demanded subservience when he entered a area or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his disastrous and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a notorious figure.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the royal family. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an era when submission and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant king was pushed further. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and permanent personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to surrender his titles in recent history
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever come to pass.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

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

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the removal of designations was what the king, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his folly, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.