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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a party in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling action by someone who had openly stated to have not been aware of her, asserted he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of monarchical money to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

In this context, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew strolling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his relatives, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable friends given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: helicopter transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which demanded subservience when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his honorifics used on his letterheads in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could escape deceiving about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

Consequences

Finally, the notoriously uncertain king was prodded additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the account.

Presently the loss of designations and the continued and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The first royal to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will truly come to pass.

Coming Developments

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Might they say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive property at Sandringham.

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

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will legislators demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief statement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the complainant's account of events.

Furthermore, for the premiere occasion they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-interest and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.