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It all began with a single photograph, possibly the most impactful ever taken of a individual from the royal household.

In the frame appeared the Duke of York, standing closely beside a teenage girl, while an associate smiled conspiratorially in the backdrop.

Without that photograph, captured at a social event in 2001, who would have believed the assertions of a adolescent who said she was moved across the ocean and obliged to have brief sexual encounters with a member of the royal family?

A strange, indicative move by someone who had overtly stated to have no known about her, claimed he could never have had intimate contact with her, and yet provided a substantial sum of family money to resolve a protracted court action.

A Long Period of Controversy

Against this backdrop, conversations of the royal family acting firmly to sever ties with Andrew are inaccurate. This controversy has continued for the largest portion of 15 years since that photograph, and an additional snapshot of Andrew walking pleasantly with a disgraced financier emerged.

• Arrogance: To what extent did his brothers and sisters, maybe even his parents, know that Andrew was so arrogant?
• Questionable Associations: They must have known, if his staff and the police were fulfilling their roles, that he had some highly questionable companions given he openly welcomed them to estates.
• Financial Extravagance: If the household did not know about his intimate behaviors, they certainly knew about his overspending with state resources.

Travel were documented in official documents: helicopter travel from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for dining, chartered planes instead of scheduled services, all for the comfort of "the travel enthusiast".

World of Deference

Additionally the arrogance which required subservience when he appeared in a room or the profound obsession about his designations used on his letterheads in letters to his personal acquaintances.

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The Queen did at least strip him of royal responsibilities and military positions in the aftermath of his ill-fated and, as revealed, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Merely in the last two weeks that events sped up, following the issuance of accounts giving more disturbing details of his behavior and that of his associates.

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

The public (and the press) were far in advance of the monarchy. There was no one of any consequence to speak up for him, a outcome of all those years of hubris.

Institutional Fears

The more astute royals realized that. The primary concern is to pass on the crown, if not as before at least intact and unblemished.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the image of earlier rulers, proving they are valuable, accountable and reactive to their people.

Andrew was putting all that in danger in an age when respect and discretion is no longer enough.

Aftermath

Finally, the well-known indecisive king was pressured additional. There was no other option. The institution had lost control of the narrative.

Presently the removal of designations and the persistent and life-long public humiliation that will hurt Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just a commoner
• Prior Instance: The primary royal to lose his honorifics in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly painful given his service in the Falklands war

He is still a constitutional officer, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still in the lineage to the throne, but none of these will truly occur.

What Lies Ahead

Can persons he meets still show respect to him? Will they still forget themselves and call him Sir? Will they even say Sir,

Of course, he is not withdrawing to a common area, but to the sovereign's large grounds at a monarchical property.

There, he will be provided by the sovereign with one of the grace and favour houses and given some sort of personal stipend.

This is not his prior accommodation, where he paid a nominal payment for more than 20 years, and the county is a bit remote, but even so it may not be sufficiently removed.

Unresolved Issues

Matters remain unresolved. There are still documents in the hands of American legislators to be made public.

• Governmental Scrutiny: Will parliament seek further action
• Monetary Probe: Or scrutinize the misuse of state resources
• Criminal Investigation: There may even be a law enforcement inquiry into his actions

Maybe for the moment the institutional damage to the institution is contained. The narrative from the institution was evidently that the removal of titles was what the king, and especially other senior family members, desired.

A Shift in Position

An end to deception that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, notably, the concise communication showed evidently that the institution were supporting the complainant's account of events.

Even more, for the first time they finally showed concern for the affected individuals: "The measures are judged required, regardless of the reality that he maintains his innocence of the accusations against him."

Finally it is presumption, self-seeking and laziness that will destroy the institution. In his foolishness, personal excess and venality, Andrew seems never to have grasped that reality.