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This episode commenced with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual smiled knowingly in the rear.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a individual of the royal family?

A curious, revealing move by someone who had overtly asserted to have no been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's resources to avert a protracted lawsuit.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in public records: chopper flights 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 frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the arrogance which expected subservience when he appeared in a space or the profound awareness about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his mother, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could avoid deceiving about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute royals recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain king was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had relinquished authority of the account.

Now it is the removal of designations and the persistent and lifetime public humiliation that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial royal to forfeit his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his role in the conflict

He continues to be a counsellor of state, on paper able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but none of these will ever come to pass.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still acknowledge him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast estate at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some type of financial support.

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

Pending Matters

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the misuse of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Possibly for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The narrative from the palace was evidently that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

An end to deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of events.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is arrogance, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.