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This episode commenced with a single photograph, perhaps the most significant ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a teenage girl, while another individual beamed conspiratorially in the rear.

Absent that photograph, captured at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a teenager who declared she was trafficked across the Atlantic and forced to have perfunctory relations with a individual of the royal family?

An odd, telling gesture by someone who had publicly stated to have no known about her, claimed he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of his mother's money to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Considering this, talk of the royals acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his parents, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have known, if his employees and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he publicly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Journeys were listed in public records: private aircraft flights from the estate to a sporting venue and back again in time for lunch, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

Existence of Entitlement

Furthermore the entitlement which expected respect when he entered a room or the profound awareness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least revoke him of royal responsibilities and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his catastrophic and, as revealed, deceptive public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the publication of books giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a disgraced individual.

People (and the media) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more astute monarchical figures recognized that. The one imperative is to pass on the institution, if not as heretofore at least whole and unstained.

Over time the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Ultimately, the well-known uncertain monarch was pressured more. There was no alternative. The royal household had lost control of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of titles and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Particularly painful given his role in the engagement

He continues to be a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but neither of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still defer to him? Will they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Will they even say Andrew,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to an ordinary town, but to the sovereign's vast estate at a monarchical property.

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

This differs from his prior accommodation, where he paid a token rent for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

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

• Political Pressure: Will parliament request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the waste of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the present the institutional damage to the crown is restricted. The statement from the palace was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and particularly other senior family members, desired.

Changed Stance

An end to pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the brief announcement showed plainly that the royals were aligning with the victim's narrative of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The measures are deemed necessary, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will kill the crown. In his stupidity, self-gratification and venality, Andrew seems never to have learned that lesson.