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

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate smiled knowingly in the background.

Lacking that photograph, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who said she was transported across the Atlantic and compelled to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had overtly claimed to have not known about her, claimed he could no have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a long-delayed legal case.

Years of Scandal

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royals acting firmly to cut Andrew off are inaccurate. This scandal has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Arrogance: For what duration did his family members, possibly even his relatives, understand that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Journeys were listed in official documents: private aircraft transfers from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

A Life of Privilege

Furthermore the entitlement which required respect when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his honorifics used on his official documents in communication to his friends.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who inexplicably pampered him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of official roles and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of biographical works giving more disturbing information of his behavior and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid deceiving about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was no one of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, showing they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

His actions endangered all that in danger in an age when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known hesitant monarch was pressured further. There was no other option. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the stripping of designations and the ongoing and permanent personal shame that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Lowered to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to forfeit his honorifics in recent history
• Naval Career: Notably painful given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, on paper able to substitute for the king, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but not any of these will actually come to pass.

Coming Developments

Will people he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's vast grounds at Sandringham.

At that location, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his previous residence, 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.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the hands of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Might legislators demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Perhaps for the moment the institutional damage to the crown is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of honorifics was what the monarch, and notably other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the institution were supporting the victim's narrative of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed consideration for the survivors: "The censures are considered essential, regardless of the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the institution. In his foolishness, self-indulgence and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that truth.