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This episode commenced with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever taken of a member of the monarchy.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a young woman, while another individual smiled conspiratorially in the rear.

Without that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a adolescent who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and forced to have cursory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A curious, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have not been aware of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of monarchical resources to settle a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were listed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which required deference when he entered a space or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could get away with being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The wiser monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the notoriously uncertain king was pressured more. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the account.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the persistent and permanent public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Military Service: Especially hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the king, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Can persons he meets still defer to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The message from the institution was evidently that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior monarchical figures, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the short announcement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that lesson.