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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, arguably the most significant ever taken of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a young woman, while a companion smiled knowingly in the background.

Absent that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing gesture by someone who had openly claimed to have no been aware of her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided millions of his mother's money to settle a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the monarchy acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and another photo of Andrew walking amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his aides and the authorities were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable friends given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with taxpayer funds.

Trips were documented in public records: helicopter transfers from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

Additionally the presumption which required deference when he walked into a room or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his official documents in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He avoided accountability while his parent, who strangely pampered him, was still living. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a convicted criminal.

People (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the famously indecisive monarch was pushed additional. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the removal of titles and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will hurt Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to forfeit his designations in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the monarchy, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

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

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's large property at a monarchical property.

At that location, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the custody of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Might parliament seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his conduct

Possibly for the present the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was evidently that the removal of designations was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, notably, the brief announcement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the complainant's narrative of events.

Even more, for the first time they ultimately showed consideration for the victims: "These actions are considered essential, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.