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

Present was the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while a companion beamed knowingly in the backdrop.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the allegations of a adolescent who said she was moved across the ocean and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a member of the royal family?

An odd, telling move by someone who had openly stated to have never known about her, asserted he could no have had relations with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of monarchical funds to avert a drawn-out court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the better part of 15 years since that picture, and a further image of Andrew walking congenially with a convicted sex offender came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his aides and the police were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he unabashedly hosted them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Journeys were listed in public records: private aircraft travel from the royal residence to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

World of Deference

Furthermore the presumption which demanded deference when he entered a room or the extreme obsession about his designations used on his correspondence in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of accounts giving more grim information of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could get away with being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

Society (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent royals recognized that. The key objective is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least complete and untarnished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to overcome the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

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

Aftermath

Eventually, the well-known indecisive king was prodded more. There was no other option. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the removal of titles and the continued and lifetime social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The first royal to surrender his honorifics in modern times
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the Falklands war

He continues to be a counsellor of state, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will ever occur.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he comes across still defer to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be furnished by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The message from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior monarchical figures, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the concise announcement showed clearly that the royals were supporting the victim's narrative of events.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed regard for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, regardless of the reality that he continues to deny the accusations against him."

In the end it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his folly, personal excess and greed, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.