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This episode commenced with a isolated photograph, possibly the most significant ever snapped of a royal family member.

There stood the Baron Killyleagh, standing closely beside a female youth, while a companion beamed suggestively in the background.

Without that photograph, captured at a party in 2001, few would have credited the assertions of a teenager who said she was trafficked across the Atlantic and compelled to have perfunctory relations with a prince of the royal bloodline?

A strange, revealing move by someone who had publicly asserted to have no known about her, said he could not have had sex with her, and yet provided a large amount of family money to resolve a long-delayed court action.

A Long Period of Disgrace

Against this backdrop, discussions of the royal family acting decisively to cut Andrew off are wide of the mark. This controversy has endured for the better part of 15 years since that image, and an additional image of Andrew walking pleasantly with a notorious individual surfaced.

• Hubris: How long did his family members, possibly even his mother and father, realize that Andrew was so presumptuous?
• Problematic Connections: They must have known, if his staff and the police were doing their jobs, that he had some extremely unsavory associates given he openly hosted them to palaces.
• Fiscal Irresponsibility: If the household did not know about his personal conduct, they certainly knew about his extravagance with public money.

Travel were listed in public records: helicopter flights from the palace to a golf course and back again in time for midday meal, exclusive air travel instead of commercial flights, all for the benefit of "the frequent flyer".

Existence of Entitlement

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

He could get away with it while his parent, who unaccountably spoiled him, was still living. The sovereign did at least revoke him of official roles and military positions in the consequence of his disastrous and, we now know, untruthful television interview six years ago.

Recent Developments

Just in the last two weeks that events progressed rapidly, following the publication of biographical works giving more troubling details of his actions and that of his connections.

Further disclosures have again exposed Andrew's thinking that he could escape lying about his interaction with a notorious figure.

People (and the press) were far more perceptive of the royals. There was no one of any significance to defend him, a outcome of all those years of arrogance.

Monarchical Concerns

The more intelligent family members realized that. The key objective is to hand down the institution, if not as previously at least intact and unstained.

For generations the last 190 years trying to undo the reputation of past sovereigns, proving they are useful, responsible and attentive to their subjects.

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

The Fallout

Finally, the well-known uncertain monarch was prodded additional. There was little choice. The institution had relinquished authority of the narrative.

Now it is the removal of honorifics and the persistent and life-long personal shame that will pain Andrew most deeply.

• Downgrading: Reduced to just Mr Mountbatten-Windsor
• Past Example: The primary member to surrender his designations in contemporary era
• Armed Forces: Particularly stinging given his duty in the conflict

He is still a royal advisor, on paper able to act for the sovereign, and he is still eighth in line to the throne, but neither of these will ever occur.

Future Prospects

Will people he meets still defer to him? Might they still slip up and call him Your Highness? Might they say Sir,

Naturally, he is not withdrawing to suburbia, but to the royal family's extensive grounds at a monarchical property.

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

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

Unresolved Issues

The situation continues. There are still documents in the possession of US Congress to be made public.

• Political Pressure: Could lawmakers request additional information
• Monetary Probe: Or examine the misuse of taxpayer funds
• Judicial Potential: There may even be a police investigation into his actions

Possibly for the moment the institutional damage to the monarchy is restricted. The message from the royal household was plainly that the stripping of titles was what the monarch, and especially other senior royals, desired.

Altered Approach

The cessation of pretence that Andrew was making the choice himself. And, significantly, the brief communication showed plainly that the royals were siding with the complainant's narrative of incidents.

Even more, for the first time they eventually showed regard for the affected individuals: "The censures are deemed necessary, regardless of the fact that he persists in refuting the accusations against him."

Ultimately it is entitlement, selfishness and laziness that will destroy the crown. In his foolishness, self-gratification and corruption, Andrew seems never to have learned that reality.