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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Without that image, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who said she was moved across the sea and forced to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid a large amount of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another photo of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, perhaps even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Trips were printed in royal annual reports: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he entered a room or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least remove him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his ill-fated and, we now know, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of accounts giving more grim details of his behavior and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals understood that. The one imperative is to transfer the institution, if not as previously at least whole and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the reputation of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are useful, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

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

Consequences

Finally, the famously uncertain king was pressured more. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

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

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The initial monarch to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a royal advisor, theoretically able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the sovereign's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be provided by the king with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is restricted. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the brief statement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the first time they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that reality.