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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most consequential ever captured of a royal family member.

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while an associate beamed knowingly in the background.

Without that image, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, revealing action by someone who had overtly stated to have not known about her, said he could no have had intimate contact with her, and yet paid a substantial sum of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are misguided. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that picture, and another snapshot of Andrew walking congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his family members, maybe even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly invited them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the presumption which required respect when he walked into a area or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least strip him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Latest Events

It was only in the last two weeks that events accelerated, following the issuance of books giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was nobody of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The wiser royals recognized that. The one imperative is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their people.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when deference and discretion is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant king was pressured more. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the stripping of titles and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Demotion: Demoted to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial royal to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially painful given his duty in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but not any of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not retiring to suburbia, but to the monarchy's extensive estate at Sandringham.

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

This is not his former home, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still documents in the possession of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the present the reputational impact to the institution is limited. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the concise statement showed clearly that the institution were aligning with the victim's account of incidents.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, despite the reality that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew appears never to have understood that lesson.