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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a young woman, while another individual grinned suggestively in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a young woman who declared she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a prince of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly claimed to have no been aware of her, said he could never have had sex with her, and yet provided millions of family resources to avert a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Scandal

Against this backdrop, discussions of the monarchy acting swiftly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the majority of 15 years since that photograph, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling amiably with a notorious individual came to light.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, maybe even his parents, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Problematic Connections: They must have realized, if his staff and the law enforcement were fulfilling their roles, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: helicopter travel from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

World of Deference

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

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and military positions in the aftermath of his catastrophic and, it is now clear, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's belief that he could escape deceiving about his contact with a notorious figure.

People (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a result of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute family members realized that. The key objective is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are valuable, responsible and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in peril in an time when respect and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Eventually, the well-known indecisive sovereign was prodded further. There was no other option. The palace had relinquished authority of the story.

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

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The initial member to lose his designations in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially stinging given his service in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to act for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly come to pass.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Prince? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's large estate at a royal residence.

In that place, he will be furnished by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Outstanding Concerns

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Political Pressure: Will legislators demand more
• Fiscal Review: Or examine the improper use of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the time being the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the institution was clearly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and especially other senior royals, wanted.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the brief announcement showed evidently that the institution were supporting the complainant's narrative of occurrences.

Furthermore, for the initial instance they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "These actions are considered essential, notwithstanding the reality that he continues to deny the allegations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his stupidity, personal excess and corruption, Andrew appears never to have learned that truth.