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It all began with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the rear.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, indicative gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have never heard of her, claimed he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid millions of his mother's resources to settle a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his employees and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Travel were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which expected deference when he entered a area or the extreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more grim details of his actions and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members realized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pressured further. There was little choice. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to surrender his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he comes across still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the sovereign's vast property at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the institution is restricted. The statement from the institution was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the brief announcement showed evidently that the institution were aligning with the victim's version of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The censures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.