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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion grinned suggestively in the background.

Without that snapshot, captured at a party in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who stated she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have cursory sexual encounters with a prince of the monarchy?

An odd, indicative action by someone who had overtly claimed to have never been aware of her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet paid millions of family funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This affair has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his siblings, maybe even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he unabashedly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in royal annual reports: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of regular transport, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required respect when he entered a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in messages to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

It was only in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of books giving more troubling details of his behavior and that of his companions.

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

Society (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals understood that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as before at least complete and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of past sovereigns, showing they are valuable, responsible and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an age when submission and discretion is no longer enough.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant sovereign was prodded more. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the removal of titles and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial monarch to surrender his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his role in the engagement

He is still a royal advisor, in principle able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but not any of these will ever happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the royal residences and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The statement from the palace was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed evidently that the institution were siding with the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, despite the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is arrogance, selfishness and laziness that will kill the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.