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The saga started with a single photograph, arguably the most consequential ever snapped of a royal family member.

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

Without that image, shot at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative move by someone who had overtly asserted to have not known about her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a large amount of monarchical money to settle a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have realized, if his staff and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Financial Extravagance: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: chopper travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which expected deference when he entered a space or the supreme obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

It was only in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling information of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, responsible and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an time when submission and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously hesitant king was pressured further. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of designations and the continued and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Reduction: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably painful given his duty in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a police investigation into his behavior

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The message from the palace was evidently that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, sought.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of illusion that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the short communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's account of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the institution. In his folly, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.