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It all began with a single photograph, perhaps the most consequential ever captured of a individual from the royal household.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a teenage girl, while a companion grinned suggestively in the background.

Lacking that image, taken at a party in 2001, who would have believed the allegations of a teenager who stated she was moved across the sea and obliged to have perfunctory intimate contact with a individual of the monarchy?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had openly claimed to have not known about her, asserted he could not have had sex with her, and yet handed over a substantial sum of family money to avert a drawn-out legal case.

Years of Disgrace

Considering this, conversations of the royals acting swiftly to distance themselves from Andrew are wide of the mark. This scandal has continued for the better part of 15 years since that photograph, and another image of Andrew strolling amiably with a convicted sex offender surfaced.

• Arrogance: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his staff and the law enforcement were doing their jobs, that he had some highly questionable associates given he openly welcomed them to royal residences.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his sexual proclivities, they certainly knew about his wastefulness with public money.

Trips were listed in official documents: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of commercial flights, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Then there was the entitlement which required respect when he walked into a room or the extreme consciousness about his royal titles used on his official documents in messages to his associates.

He managed to escape consequences while his matriarch, who strangely spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the wake of his disastrous and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Merely in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of accounts giving more disturbing particulars of his actions and that of his companions.

Further disclosures have again highlighted Andrew's belief that he could escape being untruthful about his interaction with a notorious figure.

The public (and the press) were far more perceptive of the monarchy. There was not a single person of any significance to support him, a outcome of all those years of presumption.

Institutional Fears

The more intelligent royals realized that. The one imperative is to pass on the monarchy, if not as before at least whole and untarnished.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to undo the legacy of previous monarchs, showing they are useful, accountable and reactive to their citizens.

His actions endangered all that in peril in an age when submission and discretion is no longer enough.

Consequences

Ultimately, the well-known hesitant monarch was pushed more. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Currently the loss of honorifics and the persistent and permanent social disgrace that will pain Andrew the most.

• Downgrading: Demoted to just a private citizen
• Prior Instance: The first member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Military Service: Particularly stinging given his role in the conflict

He remains a constitutional officer, in principle able to substitute for the monarch, and he is still eighth in line to the crown, but not any of these will actually happen.

What Lies Ahead

Do individuals he meets still show respect to him? Will they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Will they even say Andrew,

Certainly, he is not moving to a common area, but to the sovereign's extensive estate at a monarchical property.

In that place, he will be provided by the monarch with one of the estate properties and given some type of personal stipend.

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

Pending Matters

Matters remain unresolved. There are still records in the possession of overseas authorities to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers seek further action
• Fiscal Review: Or investigate the improper use of taxpayer funds
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the crown is limited. The message from the palace was plainly that the stripping of designations was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

Altered Approach

No more pretence that Andrew was doing it voluntarily. And, notably, the concise announcement showed clearly that the monarchy were aligning with the accuser's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed concern for the survivors: "The censures are deemed necessary, despite the truth that he persists in refuting the allegations against him."

In the end it is presumption, self-interest and inactivity that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and venality, Andrew appears never to have grasped that lesson.