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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, arm-in-arm a young woman, while a companion smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a adolescent who said she was trafficked across the sea and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had publicly claimed to have no heard of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family resources to resolve a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: chopper flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the presumption which required subservience when he entered a room or the profound obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the release of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a notorious figure.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as previously at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, proving they are valuable, dutiful and reactive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain monarch was pushed further. There was no alternative. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary member to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his service in the engagement

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the throne, but not any of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Might they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is contained. The message from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, wanted.

Altered Approach

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise statement showed evidently that the monarchy were aligning with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will destroy the crown. In his folly, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that truth.