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It all began with a single photograph, arguably the most significant ever snapped of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Absent that image, captured at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the claims of a young woman who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had overtly stated to have never heard of her, said he could not have had relations with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family money to settle a long-delayed court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the monarchy acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This affair has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling congenially with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he openly hosted them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which expected subservience when he walked into a area or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still living. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the consequence of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last fortnight that events progressed rapidly, following the release of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his relationship with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent monarchical figures recognized that. The key objective is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, showing they are useful, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in jeopardy in an era when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the notoriously uncertain monarch was pushed further. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the account.

Presently the stripping of honorifics and the continued and permanent personal shame that will hurt Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to act for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will actually occur.

Future Prospects

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

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a royal residence.

There, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some type of personal stipend.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still files in the possession of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Political Pressure: Might lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is limited. The message from the institution was clearly that the revocation of honorifics was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, sought.

Changed Stance

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are judged required, notwithstanding the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and indolence that will kill the crown. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew appears never to have learned that lesson.