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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, arguably the most impactful ever captured of a member of the monarchy.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a female youth, while another individual smiled knowingly in the backdrop.

Absent that image, taken at a gathering in 2001, few would have credited the allegations of a young woman who said she was moved across the Atlantic and forced to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A curious, telling gesture by someone who had overtly claimed to have no known about her, said he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of his mother's money to settle a protracted legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

In this context, discussions of the royals acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has endured for the majority of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew ambling amiably with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: How long did his siblings, perhaps even his relatives, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some extremely unsavory friends given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with taxpayer funds.

Travel were documented in royal annual reports: private aircraft travel from the estate to a country club and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the frequent flyer".

A Life of Privilege

Additionally the presumption which required deference when he entered a space or the profound consciousness about his designations used on his official documents in letters to his friends.

He avoided accountability while his mother, who inexplicably spoiled him, was still surviving. The Queen did at least remove him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the aftermath of his disastrous and, as revealed, mendacious television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the release of books giving more grim information of his conduct and that of his associates.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's assumption that he could avoid being untruthful about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

The public (and the journalists) were far ahead of the royal family. There was nobody of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Royal Worries

The more astute royals realized that. The primary concern is to transfer the crown, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of past sovereigns, demonstrating they are beneficial, accountable and attentive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in jeopardy in an time when deference and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Finally, the notoriously indecisive sovereign was prodded additional. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the narrative.

Now it is the stripping of titles and the continued and lifetime public humiliation that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Downgrading: Lowered to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to surrender his honorifics in contemporary era
• Military Service: Notably painful given his role in the engagement

He is still a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but not any of these will ever happen.

Future Prospects

Will people he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Prince? Might they say Sir,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the monarchy's large estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some form of financial support.

This differs from his former home, where he paid a nominal rent for more than 20 years, and the area is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Outstanding Concerns

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the custody of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Might legislators request additional information
• Fiscal Review: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Possibly for the time being the institutional damage to the institution is limited. The statement from the royal household was clearly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, remarkably, the short statement showed clearly that the monarchy were siding with the victim's version of occurrences.

Even more, for the initial instance they eventually showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are considered essential, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the allegations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, selfishness and inactivity that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have learned that truth.