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The saga started with a solitary photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever snapped of a individual from the royal household.

Present was the Duke of York, standing closely beside a young woman, while an associate beamed conspiratorially in the background.

Without that snapshot, taken at a gathering in 2001, who would have believed the claims of a young woman who declared she was trafficked across the sea and compelled to have cursory relations with a member of the royal bloodline?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had openly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could not have had relations with her, and yet provided a large amount of his mother's funds to settle a long-delayed lawsuit.

Years of Controversy

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 better part of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional photo of Andrew ambling congenially with a convicted sex offender emerged.

• Hubris: To what extent did his siblings, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some deeply disreputable associates given he unabashedly invited them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the monarchy did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with taxpayer funds.

Travel were printed in public records: private aircraft flights from the estate to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "Airmiles Andy".

A Life of Privilege

Then there was the arrogance which required deference when he walked into a area or the supreme awareness about his designations used on his correspondence in letters to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his parent, who strangely indulged him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and ceremonial ranks in the consequence of his ill-fated and, it is now clear, untruthful public statement six years ago.

Latest Events

Just in the last fortnight that events accelerated, following the issuance of biographical works giving more troubling particulars of his behavior and that of his companions.

Additional revelations have again exposed Andrew's belief that he could avoid being untruthful about his contact with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the royal family. There was nobody of any importance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more astute monarchical figures understood that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unblemished.

Over time the last 190 years trying to reverse the legacy of earlier rulers, proving they are beneficial, responsible and reactive to their people.

He was placing all that in peril in an age when submission and secrecy is no longer adequate.

The Fallout

Ultimately, the famously hesitant monarch was prodded further. There was little choice. The royal household had relinquished authority of the narrative.

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

• Reduction: Reduced to just a private citizen
• Historical Precedent: The initial royal to forfeit his designations in modern times
• Armed Forces: Notably hurtful given his role in the Falklands war

He is still a counsellor of state, theoretically able to substitute for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the crown, but not any of these will truly happen.

What Lies Ahead

Will people he encounters still acknowledge him? Could they still slip up and call him Sir? Would they say Mr,

Certainly, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the royal family's vast property at Sandringham.

There, he will be supplied by the sovereign with one of the estate properties and given some type of private allowance.

This is not his former home, where he paid a nominal lease for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit far, but even so it may not be adequate distance.

Pending Matters

This is not over. There are still files in the custody of overseas authorities to be disclosed.

• Parliamentary Interest: Could parliament demand more
• Monetary Probe: Or investigate the waste of taxpayer funds
• Legal Possibility: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his conduct

Possibly for the time being the harm to the monarchy to the monarchy is restricted. The statement from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the king, and especially other senior monarchical figures, sought.

Altered Approach

No more deception that Andrew was acting willingly. And, significantly, the short communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the victim's version of events.

Even more, for the initial instance they ultimately showed concern for the survivors: "The measures are considered essential, despite the truth that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

In the end it is entitlement, self-interest and indolence that will kill the crown. In his folly, personal excess and corruption, Andrew seems never to have understood that lesson.