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The saga started with a isolated photograph, possibly the most impactful ever captured of a royal family member.

In the frame appeared the Baron Killyleagh, with his arm around a female youth, while an associate beamed knowingly in the rear.

Without that snapshot, taken at a social event in 2001, it would have been difficult to accept the assertions of a teenager who stated she was trafficked across the ocean and compelled to have cursory intimate contact with a individual of the royal bloodline?

An odd, revealing move by someone who had publicly asserted to have not been aware of her, claimed he could never have had sex with her, and yet handed over a large amount of family funds to avert a drawn-out legal case.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to distance themselves from Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has persisted for the largest portion of 15 years since that image, and another snapshot of Andrew strolling pleasantly with a disgraced financier surfaced.

• Self-importance: To what extent did his family members, perhaps even his parents, know that Andrew was so self-entitled?
• Dubious Friendships: They must have understood, if his employees and the police were performing their duties, that he had some deeply disreputable companions given he publicly welcomed them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the family did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his extravagance with state resources.

Travel were documented in public records: helicopter transfers 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 travel enthusiast".

Existence of Entitlement

Then there was the arrogance which demanded respect when he entered a room or the supreme consciousness about his designations used on his letterheads in communication to his associates.

He avoided accountability while his matriarch, who unaccountably pampered him, was still alive. The Queen did at least strip him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his catastrophic and, we now know, mendacious public statement six years ago.

Current Situation

Just in the last 14 days that events accelerated, following the release of accounts giving more grim particulars of his actions and that of his connections.

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

The public (and the media) were far ahead of the royals. There was no one of any consequence to support him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Monarchical Concerns

The wiser monarchical figures realized that. The key objective is to hand down the monarchy, if not as heretofore at least complete and unstained.

They have spent the last 190 years trying to overcome the reputation of previous monarchs, proving they are beneficial, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

He was placing all that in danger in an era when respect and secrecy is no longer adequate.

Aftermath

Eventually, the famously indecisive monarch was pushed additional. There was no other option. The royal household had surrendered command of the account.

Now it is the loss of honorifics and the persistent and life-long social disgrace that will afflict Andrew most severely.

• Reduction: Demoted to just a commoner
• Past Example: The first monarch to lose his titles in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the Falklands war

He remains a constitutional officer, theoretically able to stand in for the monarch, and he is still in the succession to the crown, but not any of these will truly occur.

Coming Developments

Do individuals he comes across still show respect to him? Could they still make mistakes and call him Sir? Would they say Andrew,

Of course, he is not retiring to an ordinary town, but to the royal family's large estate at a monarchical property.

There, he will be furnished by the king with one of the grace and favour houses and given some form of private allowance.

This differs from his previous residence, where he paid a minimal lease for more than 20 years, and Norfolk is a bit remote, but even so it may not be far enough.

Unresolved Issues

This is not over. There are still records in the custody of US Congress to be disclosed.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will lawmakers request additional information
• Financial Investigation: Or scrutinize the improper use of state resources
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his conduct

Maybe for the moment the reputational impact to the institution is contained. The message from the palace was clearly that the stripping of designations was what the sovereign, and notably other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

No more illusion that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the concise communication showed evidently that the royals were supporting the complainant's version of occurrences.

Additionally, for the initial instance they finally showed regard for the affected individuals: "These actions are judged required, notwithstanding the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, selfishness and laziness that will undermine the monarchy. In his stupidity, personal excess and venality, Andrew gives the impression never to have grasped that reality.