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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate beamed suggestively in the backdrop.

Lacking that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical money to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting decisively to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional image of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which demanded respect when he entered a area or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his associates.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least whole and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their people.

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

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was pressured additional. There was no alternative. The royal household had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the continued and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The primary monarch to lose his titles in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

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

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The narrative from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were supporting the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.