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

Present was the Duke of York, with his arm around a female youth, while another individual beamed suggestively in the rear.

Without that photograph, shot at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a young woman who declared she was transported across the ocean and obliged to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal family?

A strange, telling action by someone who had publicly stated to have never known about her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet handed over millions of monarchical funds to resolve a protracted lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

Considering this, talk of the monarchy acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the better part of 15 years since that image, and a further image of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier came to light.

• Self-importance: How long did his brothers and sisters, perhaps even his mother and father, understand that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his employees and the authorities were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with public money.

Journeys were listed in official documents: private aircraft travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for lunch, exclusive air travel instead of regular transport, all for the convenience of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the arrogance which expected deference when he entered a room or the extreme awareness about his honorifics used on his correspondence in messages to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who inexplicably indulged him, was still alive. The monarch did at least revoke him of official roles and honorary colonelcies in the wake of his disastrous and, it is now clear, deceptive television interview six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last 14 days that events sped up, following the issuance of biographical works giving more disturbing details of his actions and that of his associates.

Additional revelations have again revealed Andrew's thinking that he could escape being untruthful about his contact with a convicted criminal.

The public (and the journalists) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was nobody of any significance to speak up for him, a result of all those years of presumption.

Royal Worries

The more intelligent family members realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the crown, if not as heretofore at least intact and untarnished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to overcome the image of previous monarchs, showing they are valuable, dutiful and attentive to their people.

He was placing all that in jeopardy in an time when submission and secrecy is no longer sufficient.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously uncertain sovereign was pushed further. There was little choice. The palace had surrendered command of the account.

Presently the loss of designations and the ongoing and life-long public humiliation that will afflict Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The primary monarch to surrender his titles in recent history
• Military Service: Notably hurtful given his role in the engagement

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the monarchy, but none of these will truly occur.

Future Prospects

Do individuals he comes across still acknowledge him? Could they still forget themselves and call him Your Highness? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the monarchy's vast property at a royal residence.

At that location, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the royal residences and given some form of private allowance.

This is not his previous residence, where he paid a token payment for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still files in the custody of American legislators to be revealed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could legislators seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the waste of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a criminal probe into his behavior

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the institution was clearly that the revocation of titles was what the sovereign, and notably other senior royals, desired.

A Shift in Position

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, remarkably, the concise communication showed clearly that the royals were supporting the accuser's account of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed regard for the survivors: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the truth that he persists in refuting the claims against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his foolishness, personal excess and greed, Andrew gives the impression never to have understood that lesson.