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It all began with a solitary photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate smiled suggestively in the rear.

Lacking that snapshot, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a adolescent who said she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory sexual encounters with a individual of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had publicly claimed to have not been aware of her, asserted he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to resolve a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Considering this, discussions of the royals acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are misguided. This controversy has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further photo of Andrew walking amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his aides and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory companions given he unabashedly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Trips were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for dining, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Additionally the entitlement which required subservience when he walked into a space or the extreme obsession about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still living. The monarch did at least remove him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, as revealed, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of books giving more disturbing particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any importance to support him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are beneficial, dutiful and responsive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Finally, the notoriously hesitant sovereign was pushed additional. There was little choice. The palace had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Presently the removal of titles and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first monarch to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his duty in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the monarchy, but neither of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not moving to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's vast grounds at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be supplied by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still records in the possession of American legislators to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could parliament demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the waste of public money
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the moment the harm to the monarchy to the institution is limited. The narrative from the institution was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise statement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the victims: "These actions are deemed necessary, regardless of the truth that he continues to deny the claims against him."

Ultimately it is presumption, self-interest and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have learned that truth.