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The saga started with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever captured of a royal family member.

There stood the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the background.

Lacking that snapshot, captured at a social event in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a adolescent who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have cursory intimate contact with a member of the monarchy?

A curious, telling action by someone who had openly claimed to have not been aware of her, said he could no have had relations with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of monarchical money to resolve a protracted legal case.

Years of Controversy

Against this backdrop, talk of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This affair has continued for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a notorious individual came to light.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly welcomed them to palaces.
• Financial Extravagance: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Trips were printed in royal annual reports: chopper transfers from the royal residence to a country club and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of scheduled services, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which expected respect when he walked into a room or the extreme consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably pampered him, was still surviving. The monarch did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, as revealed, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last fortnight that events sped up, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his companions.

More information have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could avoid lying about his contact with a notorious figure.

Society (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any importance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute family members recognized that. The primary concern is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are useful, dutiful and responsive to their subjects.

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

Aftermath

Ultimately, the famously indecisive monarch was prodded additional. There was no alternative. The institution had surrendered command of the story.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the continued and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Past Example: The initial royal to surrender his titles in modern times
• Military Service: Especially stinging given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the king, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will truly happen.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Could they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the royal residences and given some sort of financial support.

It is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

The situation continues. There are still documents in the hands of overseas authorities to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could lawmakers demand more
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of public money
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the crown is restricted. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the revocation of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, wanted.

Changed Stance

No more illusion that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, significantly, the brief communication showed evidently that the royals were aligning with the complainant's version of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, notwithstanding the truth that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will destroy the monarchy. In his folly, self-indulgence and greed, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.