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It all began with a isolated photograph, perhaps the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while another individual grinned conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that image, shot at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, telling move by someone who had overtly claimed to have not known about her, asserted he could never have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical money to avert a drawn-out lawsuit.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting swiftly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has persisted for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have realized, if his employees and the law enforcement were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he publicly invited them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Trips were listed in official documents: chopper travel from the royal residence to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the arrogance which required deference when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least strip him of public duties and military positions in the wake of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, mendacious media appearance six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his conduct and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his interaction with a disgraced individual.

People (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members understood that. The one imperative is to hand down the crown, if not as before at least complete and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their subjects.

Andrew was putting all that in peril in an era when deference and privacy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known hesitant sovereign was pushed more. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the story.

Currently the removal of titles and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to forfeit his titles in recent history
• Armed Forces: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He remains a counsellor of state, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but none of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he encounters still acknowledge him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Sir,

Of course, he is not moving to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at Sandringham.

There, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a minimal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament seek further action
• Financial Investigation: Or investigate the waste of state resources
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his behavior

Perhaps for the present the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The statement from the palace was evidently that the removal of titles was what the monarch, and particularly other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise statement showed clearly that the royals were siding with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, personal excess and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.