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The saga started with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

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

Lacking that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and obliged to have cursory relations with a individual of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had openly asserted to have never heard of her, said he could not have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over a large amount of his mother's funds to resolve a protracted court action.

Over a Decade of Scandal

Considering this, talk of the royal family acting decisively to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This scandal has endured for the largest portion of 15 years since that picture, and another image of Andrew ambling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his parents, understand that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have understood, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he unabashedly invited them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Trips were documented in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a country club and back again in time for dining, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which required subservience when he walked into a area or the profound awareness 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 spoiled him, was still alive. The sovereign did at least revoke him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, we now know, untruthful media appearance six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the release of books giving more troubling information of his actions and that of his companions.

More information have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid lying about his relationship with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far ahead of the royals. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a consequence of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to reverse the image of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, accountable and responsive to their citizens.

He was placing all that in danger in an time when respect and privacy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Eventually, the famously hesitant monarch was pressured additional. There was little choice. The institution had lost control of the story.

Presently the removal of titles and the ongoing and life-long social disgrace that will pain Andrew most severely.

• Demotion: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The initial member to lose his honorifics in modern times
• Naval Career: Especially hurtful given his duty in the conflict

He continues to be a royal advisor, on paper able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will actually occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

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

There, he will be supplied by the monarch with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit distant, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

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

• Parliamentary Interest: Will parliament request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is contained. The statement from the palace was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and especially other senior family members, wanted.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed plainly that the monarchy were supporting the accuser's account of occurrences.

Additionally, for the premiere occasion they ultimately showed concern for the victims: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the fact that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the crown. In his stupidity, self-indulgence and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.