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This episode commenced with a solitary photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, arm-in-arm a young woman, while an associate grinned knowingly in the background.

Absent that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a adolescent who declared she was moved across the sea and forced to have brief intimate contact with a prince of the monarchy?

A strange, revealing gesture by someone who had overtly stated to have never heard of her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over millions of his mother's money to resolve a long-delayed lawsuit.

Over a Decade of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting decisively to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and a further snapshot of Andrew walking amiably with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the authorities were performing their duties, that he had some highly questionable companions given he publicly hosted them to estates.
• Monetary Excess: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were listed in official documents: private aircraft flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, private flights instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

Additionally the arrogance which required subservience when he appeared in a area or the supreme awareness about his royal titles used on his letterheads in communication to his friends.

He could get away with it while his mother, who strangely pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of public duties and honorary colonelcies in the aftermath of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Merely in the last 14 days that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing information of his conduct and that of his connections.

Additional revelations have again highlighted Andrew's thinking that he could get away with deceiving about his relationship with a disgraced individual.

Society (and the media) were far in advance of the royals. There was not a single person of any consequence to defend him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent family members recognized that. The one imperative is to hand down the institution, if not as before at least intact and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of earlier rulers, demonstrating they are useful, accountable and attentive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an era when respect and privacy is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the notoriously hesitant king was prodded further. There was no alternative. The institution had lost control of the account.

Currently the removal of designations and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial monarch to surrender his titles in contemporary era
• Naval Career: Notably stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a constitutional officer, in principle able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but neither of these will truly come to pass.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still acknowledge him? Will they still slip up and call him Sir? Will they even say Mr,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's large grounds at Sandringham.

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

It is not his previous residence, where he paid a token lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit distant, but even so it may not be far enough.

Pending Matters

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

• Governmental Scrutiny: Could lawmakers demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of public money
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Perhaps for the time being the institutional damage to the monarchy is contained. The narrative from the palace was plainly that the removal of honorifics was what the king, and particularly other senior monarchical figures, wanted.

Altered Approach

An end to pretence that Andrew was acting willingly. And, remarkably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the institution were siding with the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed consideration for the affected individuals: "The censures are considered essential, despite the reality that he maintains his innocence of the claims against him."

Finally it is entitlement, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.