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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, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual grinned knowingly in the rear.

Lacking that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who stated she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, telling gesture by someone who had publicly claimed to have never heard of her, asserted he could no have had sex with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to resolve a drawn-out court action.

Years of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and an additional snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a notorious individual emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his aides and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were printed in public records: chopper travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he entered a space or the supreme obsession about his honorifics used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The monarch did at least strip him of public duties and ceremonial ranks in the wake of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his connections.

More information have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with deceiving about his contact with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to defend him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in peril in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously uncertain sovereign was pressured further. There was little choice. The palace had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the loss of designations and the persistent and lifetime personal shame that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Historical Precedent: The first monarch to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Especially stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but neither of these will actually happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to a common area, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the royal residences and given some sort of personal stipend.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will legislators seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Perhaps for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the accuser's version of incidents.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The censures are judged required, regardless of the truth that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, self-gratification and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.